See you on the Other Side
by Raijuuden
Summary: A story born of a prompt I saw once: "What would happen if a regular person is summoned in another world to save it and, in the end, they go back to their world but, instead of being more grateful with it's return, they want to go back to their magical world?". That's the general Idea behind this. it had more details, but I'm based on that. Careful, I'm a bit graphic sometimes.
1. Chapter 1

In the middle of a Friday morning, inside a modest independent clinic, a receptionist was just hanging up a call. Another cross in her tab, and the number of patients for the day dwindled down to two. Madeline Baudelaire grabbed her phone and sent a text message to the doctor, letting him know of the update while he arrived.

She started organizing folders through her desk, the least she could do for now, before pulling up the solitaire game on her computer to kill of the rest of the day. She could hear hurried steps coming along the hall and it made her feel awkward for having those thoughts. After all, emergencies would still happen, and the nurses would still have to run while she was off, 'wasting time', on her own.

She spent the rest of the morning checking her system, notifying families, calling Insurance companies just so that feeling would go away, and she would get some sense of inner peace. The doctor sent her a message letting her know he would be getting more files and he would be in the office soon, once he finished signing all the documents he had to do for him to get them.

Another call came, and Madeline knew what was about to happen. By the end, she was ready to have an early leave from her desk. This weekend was going to be chaos, especially since everyone in the city seemed to be running away. It didn't help that a national holiday was also going to happen on Monday, making everyone have a 3-day weekend, or 4-day, since they seemed to be taking Friday off as well.

More running could be heard outside, but this time, she didn't mind. She grabbed the phone once again and was about to start typing when the door slammed open. She dropped her phone in a panic, and looked upwards:

A young man, in his early twenties, gasping for air, sweating, was standing in the door frame, looking towards the wall, as if the impact wasn't registering in his head.

"Shit!" he finally said, grabbing the door and putting it back in place, closing it softly behind him.

Madeline examined him, Camilo Porras, as she did with almost everyone who came through the door. He was a cute kid, almost the age of her oldest grandson, his brown skin the slight difference. And his ethnic background as well. She tried to recall the usual information she had at her reach, since she wasn't one to pry at their diagnosis unless the doctor told her about it.

24 or 25 years old, she wasn't sure. Male, that much was evident. No record or memory of the doctor indicating his sexual orientation, but Madeline knew a 'queen' when she saw one. Always changed the sport he practiced when she asked, but recently had settled for skating. He wasn't wearing the glove he usually had on his right hand, but it seemed he had been in the last few days. Obvious lack of sleep, she noted for herself. The kid looked like a racoon.

"I'm sorry 'bout that, ma'am"

"Don't mind it, it's nice to see you today, Camilo… how was your week?" A bright smile adorned her face, and her acute and nasal voice made it sound child-like, helping her seem a little more honest, her way of talking clashed heavily with her appearance, since no woman over 60 should sound like a child.

"The usual, miss Baudelaire" Camilo's voice was still carrying his heavy accent, the one he'd been trying to leave for 4 years now, having been too blunt, he continued with his throaty voice "I've been practicing a bit of… skating"

"Ooh, we got ourselves a full-time rebel, don't we?" she said happily, winking at the young man.

"I'd wish, it's just… uh, figure skating" Camilo just wanted to go to his appointment and leave her be, he knew she was being nice because she had to, and in any other situation she would treat him differently. Surely, it would involve far less smiles "Did I make it in time? I rushed here from practice because I thought it would be late… shit! Sorry! I'm past my appointment!"

"Oh no, no, no, don't worry," Madeline calmed him down, sure, his appointment was supposed to be half an hour earlier than now, but to be fair, neither she nor the doctor had even noticed, "the doctor is just getting your history and he- oh look! Here he comes" Miss Baudelaire waved at the doctor in a very flashy way, the big necklace she had on was shaking from side to side and making quite some noise, catching the attention from the other walkers in the hallway "Doctor Massey, welcome back, here's Camilo waiting for you!"

"Yes, I saw his blur on the way here. Hello Camilo," Doctor Andrew Massey, a hulk of a southern man was standing behind Camilo with a small folder in one hand, and a mug filled with chocolate in the other, his enormous frame was eased a bit with the soft voice that came from his mouth "I trust you've been good this week"

" _Ajá_ , I mean, yes doctor" Camilo stretched his left hand towards the doctor for a handshake and took it back quickly when he saw his hands full "uh, it's nice seeing you… again, like… like last week."

"Come on in, we got a bit of extra time today" Miss Baudelaire opened the door to the office and went back to her seat, winking at Camilo before he entered, in an attempt to ease his nerves.

The doctor came in and sat behind a simple desk. He put the folder by the phone and the mug on the opposite side, quickly taking it again to take a sip of it, and finally leave it alone. He was also writing information on a pad and looked at Camilo every so often, while everything was set in place.

Camilo sat in front of the desk and took a look around the office while the doctor checked his last notes from the previous visit, he knew pretty much from heart the way things were organized in this small office, from the little and almost dry plant on the corner, to the order of the degrees on the wall next to the door behind him.

He passed his hand through his hair, doing so, he noticed a small scratch on his left arm, the bright red mark looked like a small L on his otherwise clear brown skin. He didn't want to start the conversation today, he had made a decision 5 days before, but apparently, cold feet were a thing that happened at the actual moment to act. It was probably visible on his face.

He kept looking to the sides and behind the doctor. His head hurt, the heat, and running and lack of proper hydration plus being almost 2 in the afternoon and still going by with his breakfast and no lunch made him look like an addict looking forward to his next fix. The couple of books behind his doctor provided a good distraction while he tried to read their names again. He thought, after a while, there was one missing, the green one with the white letters on its back that he read thousands of times and still couldn't remember the name.

"Are you done?" the simple question brought him back from his head, the doctor hadn't lifted his face from the folder while he kept talking "I lent the Vademecum to the doctor in the next office"

"I… I see, I didn't mean to stare." He pouted like a child and averted his eyes, his neck itched, probably a bug bit him there while 'skating' earlier. A shy smile came through his mouth, and disappeared just as fast, remembering where he was.

"It's not a problem. How was your week, Camilo? did you have lunch already?"

"uh, no… Practice ran a bit late and ah, I ran here, I didn't have the time-I mean, my week was fine, I went hiking last weekend…I'm rambling again…right?"

"Yes, you are. Don't mind it, it's just a habit you have, like sleeping in late in the night, or not taking your medication" doctor Massey finally lifted his gaze from the folder and stared directly at Camilo. He wasn't mad, and his face showed that, but it was still a serious issue, and it had to be addressed as such. "Why did you stop taking them _this_ time?"

"I'm taking them."

"I know you aren't taking them, Camilo. Want me to run a checklist?"

"why? I'm taking them."

"Fine: you tried to shake my hand with your left hand. Your right hand's skin is clearer than the rest of the arm. And you've been fidgety since you sat down" Camilo tried to avert his eyes, he didn't like being in this situation, but the doctor was right, and he wasn't finished "Camilo, look, you need to take your pills or the treatment won't work. Do you want to be back where we were 10 years ago? Back when you didn't even look at others in the face?"

Silence. The heavy silence that now impregnated the room wouldn't go away as long as Camilo wouldn't muster up enough courage to say what he had been trying to say since some time ago. Doctor Massey was on the edge of his seat at the same time. Today, for some reason, Camilo was different to what he was before: Usually closed, not giving a lot of information about himself, keeping sentences short, today he had actually explained what happened that made him late. He was tired, but not as the usual. He had been awake at least 2 days, maybe more. Something happened.

"I… I won't take them anymore" his body moved a bit on the chair and his voice came forced, yet he kept going and gaining strength in his voice with each word "I was right 10 years ago… and I still am today doc. This week- I've been- these days have forced me to think about something I tried to leave behind me all this time. I have to-"

"You have to answer my question Camilo." Doctor Massey interrupted, since Camilo's tone of voice was gaining volume, almost shouting the last sentence. It also had to be a step by step process. He needed to process what Camilo would do.

"I stopped taking them because they make me stop feeling the portals" his answer was unwavering, he had no shame in saying something like that out loud, at least this time.

"They make you stop feeling what?"

"portals. Like whirlpools of energy…I don't wanna lose the last bit of the real 'me' they left me, I'm not gonna take them"

"The last bit of 'you' that 'they' left you" disbelief was written all over the doctor's voice, however it had a bit of curiosity mixed with it "I'll assume that 'they' means people from 'there'"

"Yeah"

"The same place you kept mentioning lightly over the past years"

"Yeah"

"Are you finally going to tell me about that 'place'? About what you think you saw that day?"

"I didn't think I saw shit that day" The way Camilo looked at the doctor changed slightly along his tone of voice, it seemed he touched something sensible and now couldn't suppress the issue.

"What did you-"

"I LIVED that for gods know how long and you come and tell me that is just an imbalance and that I need to chug pills for it to go away" he argued, almost making it seem like it was the Doctor's fault

"Look Camilo," Doctor Massey said calmly, slowly, trying to steer the aggression in the young man "you and I have known each other all this time -10 years next month, can you believe it? - and you don't talk about 'that'. I can only help you with your dysmorphia because that is the only issue you have shared with me in our sessions"

"I know" Camilo said while he put his hand behind him and looked to the side, avoiding his stare again "it's just-it would take like, eh, a couple of days to talk about it. It's just, it's too long of a story to tell in a session"

"You know that's an excuse"

"Fine"

"Fine?" Doctor Massey said, inching forward on his chair.

"Fine, I'll tell you" said Camilo reluctantly "After all, I chose to tell you when I chose to stop the pills. How long do we have today and where do I start?"

"We have time, at least 3 hours if it were that lengthy of a story since-"

"See?" Camilo said, almost chuckling, "I haven't even started and you already decided that you're not gonna believe me"

"I didn't mean it like that." the doctor claimed slowly, yet his voice didn't sound as an apology and instead as a fact "let's start with what you _did_ tell me, shall we?" he flipped the pages in the folder and stopped in the first handwritten part of the files.

"You said you were with some school friends in your previous residence -this was almost a year before coming here and about a month passed before your mother decided to get you help- and you were playing some videogames, your… your previous doctor didn't make much note of which one, but the next second, you were crying, screaming, hitting some of them and locking yourself in your room for about 2 days, according to your notes."

"Yes. I remember how much of a dick I was in that precise second"

"Stop being like that, I'm not judging or blaming you"

"It sure feels like it when you say it that way. Is that all it says there? I remember mom said a few other things that 'qualified' me for the treatment"

"Now you're just doing it on purpose"

"You got me" Camilo exhaled deeply as if taking a bit of space to run away "listen, Andrew-"

"We're dropping the titles now, then."

"If I'm gonna tell you the truth, you sit, you listen, you take notes, and then you come with snide comments, ok?" He sneered at him "I'm pretty much 100 years old by now, I can and will call you Andrew if I so fucking please. I'm older than you, kid… sorry 'bout cursing."

The doctor was taken aback by the sudden change in demeanor in the young man, it was as if it was a different person altogether, and the most impressive part of all was that it seemed as the truth, there was something in the change, and the way he started speaking that practically screamed that it wasn't child's play anymore and that Camilo would finally show who he really was and what really happened to him that day.

The doctor didn't let it show, but he was anxiously waiting for what had been the longest a patient had taken to open up to him, to finally being able to help the child that, so far, he had diagnosed with a very well hidden semblance of PTSD, body dysmorphia, and depression, a combination that would probably have ended in a horrible event in the case of any person, yet, the man in front of him, not only dealt with it, but he had kept the symptoms under check, and, overall, to the minimum.

Of course, Camilo had had many episodes of panic and anger besides the one that they just mentioned, and many of the sleeping issues he claimed to have were because of his combination of disorders, but he was 'controlling himself' better than many others with just one of them. This was unusual, borderline impossible to do, given the chemical cocktail that his brain produced, and even so, it was not easily detected, even Doctor Massey didn't diagnose the first of them until the 6th or 7th month of treatment.

"Ok, I'll play along, Camilo. Tell me what happened that day: why were you screaming 'they saved me, and they died for me'?"

"That's easy: My lifelong friends pushed me into a dimensional breach just before they were wiped out by an ancestral god that went cuckoo in the head"

"Uh…. You'll have to explain that a little better" Camilo's tone was so casual that he wasn't sure he'd heard right, if he did hear correctly, it meant that the diagnosed issues were just the tip of the iceberg and there were underlying problems far beyond the help of medication and specialists. "These 'lifelong friends'… are they the ones playing videogames with you?"

"Kiltha no, those were people that I knew, my friends are other people"

"'Are'? Didn't you say they were 'wiped out'?" Andrew was taking notes with his pen as fast as he could without looking desperate, _dissociation? Maybe, there should be more if he keeps talking, let's probe a bit more_ , he thought while looking at him "It's kind of a contradiction, don't you think?"

"That's the fun part. I _have_ to believe they are alive." The emotions of Camilo seemed like a rollercoaster, he was now on the verge of tears, just after he had been so nonchalant "If they died… I'll be completely alone in every world"

 _There!_ Doctor Massey's brain exclaimed, having pretty much arrived at a new diagnosis in just under 20 minutes of talking. _'every world', that means he thinks, no, he_ _believes_ _there's more than one, and that he's been to another. He's delusional as well, I need to see how deep his delusion goes, is it a hallucination? Maybe a response to trauma?_

"Ahem!" Camilo's voice made him snap out of his thoughts "Andrew, you already got a diagnosis, don't you? Let me guess… schizophrenia, right? You should really listen to your patients; here I thought that you were a doctor who cared."

"I haven't said a word. Besides, schizophrenia wouldn't fit with you," Andrew claimed, nonchalant, while he tried to steer him back to his tale "after all, you do know what's real and what's not. Please, go on, when you mean 'every' world, how many are we talking about?"

"you think I'm nuts already, it's all over your face. Listen, if you want, we can just get this over with, you give me the prescription, and we'll go back to our lives. Of course, that'll mean that no one in this world will see me again"

"Now, now," he said, dismissing him for a moment "let's not be rash ok?" the doctor tried to sound calm, but he was worried, had he accidentally pushed his patient in the wrong direction? "why do you think that no one will see you again? Do you think your family would be happy with you gone?"

"Oh Andrew, you keep jumping to conclusions… I'm not gonna kill myself, some would say I'm too much a coward for that. 'sides, I already talked it with mom, she knows I'll be gone sometime soon."

"Then what are you going to do?"

"I'll go back to my world, even if it takes me years, I'll get there, find them and save them all. Or just get to the after party. There's a few things I need to confirm before I search for them"

Camilo took his bag and put it on top of his legs, taking some papers, notebooks and a map, as well as some newspaper snippets and spread them on the desk organizing some of them as if he'd memorized their positions "if you want you can read those notebooks wile I talk, they have some basics of the world"

"The other one?"

Dr. Massey flipped through the pages of the first one before coming back to the first written page. It had the first few pages torn apart, that, left a gap between the cover and the first page, which had in turn a very scribbly handwriting and a few smudges here and there.

"'they can't have died' huh? Also 'Kiltha kept info from us' 'my hand is no longer… blue?' 'I don't feel our… chat? Anymore', what is all of this? And since when did you have this? Why didn't you or your mother brought it with you when we started?"

"Perfect, you can read some spanish! Mom didn't know, and that's what I did when I locked me in my room, excuse me, when I locked myself, can you help me with my grammatical errors? They're becoming a bit more usual since a few weeks ago."

"I don't know, it would take time for that"

"Oh, ok. Anyway, it's not really important, just some bit of ramblings, theories and stuff, but it could help explain some stuff I talk about. Look, here" Camilo moved a few pages ahead and touched the page with a drawing on it "it's really crude, but it's a base to know how that guy looks, Menefar, I think his name is."

"God of… order? Why? Uhm, you said you and your friends were killing this thing?"

"Yeah, he's actually real nice and stuff, usually the most inactive of them, and the second to last that we were gonna kill, the last one was Kiltha. And we would be over. For a while"

"Ok, ok, ok, rewind it. Before… all of this, tell me how did it start"

"I don't really remember the _start_ , start, but I remember floating like 10 cm, um…3 or 4 inches in the air in a room full of what I hope were people at the time, there's a drawing of it in the last page"

The doctor turned to the end of the book, in it was a drawing of a humanoid figure with a very big head floating in the center of the page, surrounded by figures that looked like melted candles, some had a cloak over their heads, but a few of them were on fire from what seemed to be the shoulders and above. They were unevenly placed around the humanoid, with most of them behind. In the corner was something that looked like a bird view, the figures still didn't have a recognizable shape, nor they were distributed in a pattern, at the back cover was etched the word 'fuckers' in what seemed to be a pen, the same that was used to draw.

"Anything to say about this?"

"I was angry? Well, it was more of a neumonic"

"You mean Mnemonic?"

"That thing, yeah, anyways, that's not important. Look, I'm no Picasso but I think you can get the general idea of the situation from there"

"I do, this seems like those things in movies where someone does magic."

"Sure, why not? So, a few weeks later I found out that they were the ones that called me there, to Jilemia, somewhere in the Balk mount, but as years passed by, I never found that place again. Anyways, they started talking and stuff, and then put me in a blue bubble and everything went black for like a couple of days, I think."

"Ok, a quick pause, what does 'culo' and 'can… canion' and 'aji' mean?"

"'ass', _cañon_ means 'canon' surprised you didn't catch that one, and 'aji' is a chili pepper"

"You are quite… creative. Who's-"

"I'm on it. A few days later after being in what I call Uranus' ball sack, I was 'gently' pushed out through it and through a few walls, and also through a bunch of soldiers and mounts until someone stopped me, the guy there," Camilo said, his talking was fast-paced, sluggish and it didn't seem to care about possible questions from whoever he was telling it to. Andrew noted that Camilo wasn't even looking at him, but at the map in front of them, "pushed me aside and swept his hand, blowing up half the crowd in front of him, his name's Elkoala and ran the army for-"

Doctor Massey snorted and then laughed for a while, there was a monumental discrepancy between the drawing and the name. Most of the time, he thought, if someone was delusional they would have names that would seem appropriate to their delusions, 'Elkoala' was pretty much an animal name, and the creature drawn on the notebook was some sort of humanoid, emanating sort of blue lines from the simple-looking helmet and the tiny openings in the plate armor, two and a half burly arms, one protruding from his back, but certainly nothing about him called the image of a koala to mind.

"Look, Camilo, it's getting difficult to believe you when you're just spouting this kind of things. How do you expect me to think something other than delusions when you show me these things? Yes, this notebook is all stained in the first pages; I will believe you when you say you were still crying while you drew this. And I reckon that there's obviously a lot of anger projected here, but you must recognize that you have a problem."

"Oh yeah, I do, but it has nothing to do with delusions. I guess we're done then? I mean, I can go on talking, but there's no point in that. Quick question though, this building has a basement?"

"It does," Doctor Massey shifted in his chair, and looked at Camilo briefly, reaching for his cup "but _you_ are _not_ allowed there, if you're thinking about getting yourself there, for whatever made up reason you have"

"Funny way to imply that I'm going to get there, see this point on the map? It's this building, and if I'm right I assume that there's an odd occurrence in there, keys getting lost, finding things that shouldn't be there. Stuff like that, right?"

"I don't know, and you're being weird, do you want to explain?"

"if that's true, then I know where to go if I want to start my return to Yi-intakael, so nice talking to you, if anyone asks you can give them those notebooks and the papers and the map. If I manage, I'll come say hi later, if not, well, then I'll be spending my life where I belong, see ya." Camilo stands up and disappears before Doctor Massey has any time to react, leaving him there, with his hands full and a strange feeling in his gut.

"Madeline," claimed Doctor Massey through his phone "could you please call the janitor here for a couple of minutes?"

"Of course, doc, Camilo left in a hurry, is everything ok?"

"Yeah… yeah, listen, I also need to know when Doctor Carabalí is free, so we can chat"

* * *

"Did everything come out as you wanted Cami?" Sandra called out from the living room towards the door, she was watching an art show and was following along the instructions, her drawing was a bit off from the sample, but had brighter colors "Food's ready when you want, by the way."

"It… it _went_ … y'know, it's what happens when I say I was trying to kill a god."

"Ooh, you started there… you probably should've waited a bit before you went there… you still wanna go back?"

"…" Camilo looked at his mother sadly, she had accepted his reasons, and believed him, and it hurt him to be so selfish "I want to… Mom they're my friends, my… my other family."

"I know _negrito_ , and I know you don't want to leave me, but don't worry about me."

"But I _do_ , mom, I don't want you to feel like I replaced you, you know that, right?"

"Of course, I do. If you replaced me you'd have a cleaner bedroom without me saying it four hundred times, right?" Sandra let out a hearty laugh, but Camilo could hear some sadness beneath it, and it was what hurt him the most "anyway, Stewart something called again, he said he left you an e-mail about the blueprints"

Camilo nodded and went upstairs to his room, he dropped his bag and sat in front of his desk, tapping absentmindedly on the table while his computer loaded, his thoughts were coming and going quickly without focusing until they stopped on a single question.

 _Why did I want him to know?_

And so, his mind was flooded, there was no need for him to know, his mother would cancel his appointments and that would be the end, he would move on onto another patient and keep doing his job, this time, with people who would take his meds.

"oh right" Camilo took the tiny bottle in his desk and took an even smaller pill from it, this would help him later when he went to sleep to keep himself from dreaming, it was something from a natural medicine shop that was well known in his previous home and his aunts kept sending them every couple of months. His computer finally loaded and he opened his mail. On it was the one his mother mentioned, asking for some minor changes to the first floor. Since it was nothing too radical, he opened the blueprint and started working on it.


	2. Chapter 2

Later in the night, back at doctor Andrew's office, his impromptu meeting was still in place. Doctor Andrea Carabalí, a physical therapist who had her office right next to Andrew's, had only been free from her patients around an hour before now. Brad, the Janitor, had been there since around 4 in the afternoon, since Andrew had been asking really weird questions.

"Look, I know you have the best interest in mind and that you are a grown man responsible for your actions, but you are getting way too close to the kid" Doctor Carabalí added, reading some of the notebooks.

"I'm not getting close to him, he's my patient, and I have to make him better"

"Maybe doctor Carabalí is right; you're kind of obsessed with him, doc." Madeline added, to the side, as she tried to organize the mess of newspapers prints and cut-outs that fell from one of the notebooks.

"He's a Psychiatrist, isn't he s'posed to do that?"

"Look Brad, a doctor must keep boundaries, especially someone like Andrew," Doctor Carabalí stated, "you will get too close, and then you'll be biased about him. Didn't you say he wasn't taking anything you prescribed him?"

"The kid's not taking his medication? Doctor!" Madeline cried out, almost accusing him, and almost dropping the newspapers again.

"He's fine! Besides, that's confidential and you know it Carabalí."

"It stopped being confidential when you told me."

"She's got you there Doc"

Now three against one, Doctor Andrew saw himself cornered. They were right, he had grown attached to Camilo, mostly out of fascination, but also in a fatherly way, and that was inacceptable for a professional. He, however, had to make sure that Camilo wasn't going to do something delusional that would end his life, so he had called everybody to look at the notes left behind.

Doctor Carabalí came from Colombia, so they both had a similar backstory and she knew spanish, _which is more important? Both of them_ , he thought, _but mostly the language part_. Brad was there to talk about the basement and ended up looking at the map as well, he had heard rumors of some of the places in the map, but they were 2 or 3. Madeline was there to assist in anything the doctors may have missed, and she was also taking notes from the narration of the notebooks.

"Look, I like telling people that we Colombians are tough as we come, that we go ahead no matter what, but that's just the top of things, not everyone is the same, and while this kid is amazing for being in control of his life with all this in his head, he needs help, not an enabler"

"I'm trying to help! What should I do then? Tie him up and lock him in an asylum?"

"You're the one that should know, I just deal with broken bodies, _you_ deal with broken minds"

"she's got you there again doc, I'm no medic, but I think a kid that makes all this crap up is in a serious mess, what I'd like to ask him is why he thought the basement would have something to do. There's nothing down there, and it's a closed place, nothing's gonna get lost"

"He said that, that things would get lost there, and later said he knew where to go to get back to his book world" Andrew traced absentmindedly on a paper, connecting the places pointed by Camilo on the map, it made no recognizable figure, not a circle, not a square, it was basically a scribble "he makes no sense, he's stubborn, he's delusional. I give up, he's going to kill himself and he won't listen to any doctor, not even his previous doctors."

"What about a friend?"

"What? All his friends are imaginary"

"No, no, no, I mean a real one, one here that knows him, which he knows"

"I would have to ask his mother then"

"Hey doctor? Brad probably means you. As in, you should talk to him, outside."

"I won't, it's not professional."

"Well…" Doctor Carabalí lifted her eyes from the last notebook, "you know? It could help both of you, if you talk to him and then refer him to another doctor, and then keep being just friends, y'know, to keep it professional?"

"Keep professional by being unprofessional."

"Look, you can keep believing that you're not obsessed with him and let him go wherever he's going, do whatever he'll do, or you can get to know him, realize why you're so obsessed and send him to someone who'll take real action and help."

"I'll… I'll think about it; can we keep reading this? It's late and we got only one left"

"There's not much in it, though the writing is weird, is he right or left-handed?"

"I don't know, I think left handed, he's got an issue with his right hand"

"Oooh I see. Either way, this one is mostly realization of things, so far, he's written 'it's been three or four days since I came and the time is constant so it's not an illusion, I've passed out a couple of times, I guess from stress and exhaustion' and goes on explaining why, 'I haven't eaten yet, this 24-hour days are messing me out, in about 3 or so hours it's gonna be a day and a half-'"

"A day and a half? How can he go on writing for four days in a row? And without eating!"

"Calm down brad, how long did his mother say he stayed in his room?"

"The file says he didn't come out for 2 days, but she said it was longer, and she heard the bathroom water running, so he may not have eaten, but at least he stayed hydrated"

"So, who do we believe? Is this notebook from the last day or the third as he claims? He also never wrote how many hours were there in what's-its-name"

"Mafesto?"

"No, that's the capital; he said his house was there, the world was called something ending in 'kal'"

"Oh, oh, Yintakal, that was it right?"

"I guess, this is so weird, I don't even know if I read that with a Spanish pronunciation or in English. Let's just keep going ok?"

"If we're done then we can just go home now, it's getting late"

"Wait, he's writing about magic, 'it's running out on its own, and I can't seem to recover the lost' … cromk?"

"Let's call it like the movies, okay? I'm not learning new words for this; I'll assume he's talking about mana or stuff"

"It doesn't appear again, let's leave it at that 'I can still feel some magic in this world, I guess they are portals, they feel like sucking energy, I have to make a rune so I can keep feeling them in the odd case I can't recharge it eating or meditating' is this why he said he's not taking his medication?"

"He hadn't said anything about portals until today, but he said the meds made him numb to them, he couldn't 'feel' them" Andrew gesticulated when he said feel, like he was trying to hypnotize the secretary "shortly before he told me he tried to kill a god"

"The one from the drawing, right?"

"Yeah, he said his name was Mene-something"

"Ahem!" Doctor Carabalí cleared her throat so everyone would pay attention "He goes on. 'there are many tiny portals, many of them would fit things like soccer balls, but otherwise they're not that big of a deal, there are, however, a few that are big enough to fit people, and one that, if it were on land, would be incredibly dangerous, I'm guessing a couple of dreadnoughts could fit there at the same time, but it feels, clogged, somehow' blah, blah, blah, they're far away, people can't see them, blah, blah, blah… 'there's four that feel like a searing place… if there's no magic on the other side I'd be screwed if I go through it… possibly all go to the same place… others feel wet, and the last ones feel cold, polar cold, but survivable. The best option I have is still overseas, kind of, I'd have to go to America and see if it's still open when I get there'… he goes on and on, it's remarkable"

Doctor Carabalí flipped the pages, skimming over them idly until she gets to the few last pages everyone just starts stretching in their seats, they had been at it for a few hours now and they were getting sleepy

"Finally, some explaining: 'at the start of this notebook I finally realized that my right hand is back. It feels weird having it again, I'd grown used to the prosthetic that Okin made, my writing is a bit shaky and the sense of having it back is something I don't like, I lost my hand for being stupid and that was my reminder, but these are just ramblings of an old man, I'll have to make my body remember how to fight. Even if I'm years away of returning'"

"He's probably not very used to 'fighting' if he practices roller-skating"

"When did he say that? He told me he was practicing karate" Andrew piped in, surprised at Madeline.

"You both don't really know your patient"

"He's keeping stuff to himself y'know? Sometimes people do that."

"Whatever, we're too tired for this. And the three of you work tomorrow, so I shouldn't be keeping you up so late"

"What?"

"You start your leave tomorrow?"

"Yeah, but I'll stay in town, in case you need me. Madeline, you can go too, I'll pick everything up"

"Thanks doc, see you in two weeks"

"Well, it's been fun, bye"

Everyone got up from their chairs and left the waiting room; Andrew picked the cups and put them on a tray, absorbed in thoughts. Shortly after he heard a noise and turned around. Doctor Carabalí was there, helping with the notebooks, but he knew that she would have something to say. _Why do women always want the last word?_ He thought.

"It's because you're so stubborn" she said coldly, without looking at him, ordering the papers that were scattered on the tiny coffee table "and stop snorting every time you think a woman disturbs you, it's childish"

"I don't do that. And you're just going to insist on me seeing my patient out of work"

"Good, I don't have to repeat myself"

"I don't want to do it, it's unprofessional, you know it, and officially I'm on vacation, so I don't have to do it, or listen to you"

"Suure" Andrea stopped what she was doing and stared at him "because you usually spend the first 5 hours after your shift ends and your vacation begins reading the delusional ramblings of your last patient for the day"

"It really bugs me when you say stuff like that, you know?"

"Look, you both need this, he's in deep crap if he goes on with this and you'll be responsible for not making sure your patient takes his medication. So, tomorrow, you'll call his mother and tell her you will not be seeing him as a patient anymore"

"I'm not-"

"And you're gonna tell her that you want to say goodbye, if possible, over dinner and then you both will act like grownups and talk, even if I have to be there myself"

"What makes you think they'll listen?"

"Because you Americans think too different from Colombians, we talk! We solve problems talking and acting on them! You all seem to think 'hey, your brain's chemicals are messed up, take these pills and keep doing everything exactly the same, you'll see how it changes'"

"It's not like that"

"Yes, it is. So, you're gonna grow a pair and talk to him. You said it yourself, he didn't finish talking today, he's reaching out, and you dismissed him."

Silence fell in the room, of course, she was right, Andrew rushed things without tact and Camilo possibly got away saddened, feeling alone and hurt by the person that had listened to every little thing he had said, the one that was supposed to be there and help him, and this stung on his chest, because he liked this kid, even after everything that the notes said on him he was still going forwards to his impossible dream of going to an imaginary place.

"I-" the phone rang, cutting him short, Andrew looked at the watch, it was now close to ten in the night and the service in the clinic was until 8 o'clock. Normally, the phone would ring alone in the night, so he left it, waiting for the voicemail so he could keep talking.

"Good evening, I'm Sandra Porras, mother of the patient Camilo Porras—"

"Miss Porras, good evening!" Andrew practically threw himself to the phone once he heard his patient name, preparing himself for the worst "yes, no, we close at 8 but today I was finishing some paperwork, your call would have been answered tomorrow, did something happen?"

"I'll leave you to that Andrew, and remember, talk to him" Andrea left the room, leaving a neatly folded map and a small pile of notes in the table, no longer in the previous disarray they had been.

" _Doctor?"_

"I'm here"

" _I didn't mean to interrupt, but I wanted to leave a message for you to hear tomorrow, listen, Camilo will leave to his home place, and I would like it if you could spare some time so he can talk to you before that"_

"What do you mean? Is he going to harm himself? Where is he? I'll send an ambulance right now"

" _Oh no, please don't worry about that, he is going to travel and that's it. You still don't believe him, but he's saying the truth."_

"You believe him? All this about a different world?"

" _I'm his mother: I know he is scared, and scarred, but there is truth in his story, I saw him suffering while he talked to me. He feels his tale, in a way a mother feels the tales of the time her children talked for the first time. Please, just listen to him."_

"… I, I'm, I will refer him to another doctor, starting tomorrow, but I will talk to him, if he is willing, where do you live?

" _Oh, he said he'll leave around 4 in the afternoon, but he'll leave home before dawn, he will be at… you know the place they call the deer drop?"_

"Yes, the waterfall in the natural trail that goes through the forest. I'll see him there, but it's late, you really think he will be there until 4?"

" _Yeah, he must make sure he won't die in the crossing, so he will be doing test runs before he goes."_

"I will go then, but I will not encourage him. If he does something weird, I will send him to an institution." Andrew waited for a response but only heard silence; he hung up and left the room, setting an alarm on his cell phone.

* * *

"I can't wake up before the sun on the first day of my vacation" Andrew grunted in front of the bathroom mirror, he'd fallen asleep on the toilet when he sat down and lost 45 minutes without noticing, but now he was late and there was nothing he could do about it, so he proceeded to get ready with the sun creeping out through the window.

He finally left home at 7 in the morning. He had had every possible interruption imaginable in the process, was now in a traffic jam about 2 miles before his exit towards the trail, where he would have to walk about 30 minutes to get to the deer drop. He had to believe in Camilo's mother; otherwise he would be really late and wouldn't be able to stop Camilo from doing something rash.

"At least I'm getting a little exercise from this, this was less steep last time"

If the ranger was right, he should be close by, after all, he was hearing the waterfall but he didn't see Camilo anywhere

"Where could he be?"

Andrew walked a bit more, he approached slowly towards the waterfall and saw a little knot tied in a stick buried in the edge of the fall, he tugged it slightly and felt no weight, he then turned around and kept looking for Camilo.

Andrew spent a while standing beside the waterfall looking for movement in the area but didn't see anyone, although he saw what was left of a campfire in front of a tree close-by, he put his hand above the ashes but didn't feel heat, it was probably made by an old traveler, he got up again and heard noises between the trees on the road he took before, curious, he crouched and moved closer trying to make as little noise as possible.

There it was, an adult doe. She was beautiful, it seemed she had just come out from a river since her fur was wet and had a lot of leaves stuck in it. Andrew had never been so close to a living one before, although he had hunted them a few times before.

The deer looked uninterested in him, she was looking behind her and to her sides, as if something was chasing her, _"a hunter maybe, we don't have anything that eats them anyway"._ He thought, after all, there wouldn't be a road that crossed through the middle of a cougar hunting area, it wouldn't be safe. Then the deer ran through the thick of the bushes, startled by something that he didn't see, he got up and kept looking for it, but it was far away, so he turned around to keep looking for Camilo.

" _What_ are you doing here?" said a voice above his head, making him jump backwards, and getting his hands up in a hurry "wow! Wow, calm down Mr. Jumpy, It's me, doc, Camilo"

"Camilo? You're hunting?"

"I'm practicing" Camilo jumped down from the tree with surprising ease, he seemed to have done it a few times before "What are _you_ doing here? You said you usually don't walk in the forest… or, you know, anywhere at all"

"Well… I'm… am, eh… I'm on vacation; I thought this was a good idea, I'm out of breath but it feels good" Andrew covered for himself with a weak laugh, but Camilo seemed unconvinced "anyway, what are you practicing?"

"Archery" Camilo stepped towards the place the deer had been and picked up an arrow with an enormous ball in the head, it had a few leaves attached to it that fell when he picked it up "I feel bad that the deer was my unwilling bullseye today, but I tried not to hurt it"

"It's more along the lines of tormenting it"

"And that's why I said I feel bad" Camilo removed the head of the arrow and put it in his right hand with his bow, the hand had a glove that covered all but two fingers "listen, Andrew" he said while looking upward toward the sun, "it should be like 11, would you like to join me for lunch? I can fish or find some rabbits in an hour"

"Don't hurt the rabbits, please" Andrew waved his hand in front of him, he didn't like hunting, though he'd done it with his father when he was younger "I don't really like meat, either way," Of course he liked it, he just didn't like the death of his lunch right in front of him, "what are you doing here? When did you start archery lessons?"

"Ah right, sorry about that, I haven't been honest, I don't practice karate, or skating, and technically I'm not with an archery team or something"

"You were an archer… um, there?"

Silence, it seemed as if the animals were also avoiding the tension rising between them, Andrew felt awkward, he wasn't using his usual words, nor were they in a room sitting while looking at papers, it was more personal and it made Andrew uncomfortable.

Camilo started walking, waiting for Andrew to follow him, neither said anything while they walked, Camilo played with the arrow in his hand in silence, dropping it a couple of times until they reached the ashes of the campfire, Camilo stopped Andrew and started climbing the tree, jumping down with a bag, and sitting down.

"I was _some_ kind of an archer" Camilo moved around the ashes, uncovering a couple of coals that were still hot, he put some branches on top of it and started blowing "I had to hunt for a few years so we could eat"

"Why do you say 'some kind of'?"

"I wasn't officially trained, and since we were short on hands, money, and hungry, I had to learn pretty much on my own" the fire was starting to grow a bit, and Camilo ripped a couple of grass leaves to throw in it, as well as a little drop of a liquid he had on his bag "it's gonna smell bad, sorry"

"No problem, was it while you lived with uhm… what's his name?"

"Ah! Right, you know about Elkoala" Camilo started blowing onto the fire with a smile on his face, Andrew thought that he did good by showing he heard him the day before "but no, it's actually after a lot of time, and crap, tons and tons of crap" he looked toward the fire, silent for a while "Sorry, I spent a little too much time with some people and their way of talking kind of rubbed on me, I've tried but it's hard to change the way you talk for a lot of time"

"It's nothing Camilo, I have no problem with that, some people do, but it's your way of talking so it's not a big deal"

"Thanks, come, let's talk while I fish, the fire should burn a while and send bugs off" Camilo seemed awkward, but he was actually doing a good job in this space, he didn't have a technique, but he had his way of getting the job done "Want to know about Elkoala? Or do I keep going with the hunting?"

"No, keep telling me whatever you think goes first, it won't make much sense if I don't know what happened before"

"And Go!" Camilo threw the hook and sat in the same movement, without losing balance for a second "hum… Elkoala, I didn't tell you what he was right?"

"It was in your notes, I think, I had a hard time with the spanish"

"Oh right, I drew him, right. Anyways, he's from a race called "The Meanings" I think, it's a word that has to do with meaning, and they are mostly ugly as shit. Like, there's a reason I drew him with his helmet, but they are also really strong, and powerful" Camilo shook slightly his rod, as if to attract fish.

"Wait, what do you mean strong and powerful? Isn't that the same?"

"Depends, really"

"On what?"

"On what can you do. Humans can be strong, but not powerful in that world, not really, there, means that you, as a human, can be a great soldier, or merc, or hunter, but you don't really have 'power' since there's been like 5 humans admitted to the ancient library. It comes down just to 'can you do magic or not' "

"Magic. You also wrote about that, could you do magic?"

"That's the million dollar question isn't it?" Camilo winked at Andrew trying to make him laugh "but that's gonna be a secret, I told you he set me to the side and blew up half the people that was fighting him, he actually did that. I don't really remember that one time, but he did it a couple more of times while I lived with him"

"You lived with this guy? You wrote a couple of really creative things to do in his orifices, why?"

"Dude, I'm on it."

"I know, but you're kind of making me want to know"

"Years of storytelling can really help you learn how to make people want a bit more, even if I wasn't the best at it. Elkoala pushed me aside because he saw I was a human, and humans are weak, and useless, blah, blah, blah. He then talked to me, and then I learned that they speak spanish, but have a different writing"

"Writing?"

"I'm on it man!" Camilo looked at Andrew with a huge smile on his face "you're fun when you get impatient. He extended his hand and traced a couple of symbols in the air, and the people behind him spread out and started killing people in that place. He talked to me, like he knew me, or wanted to" Camilo loses his smile for a second, he sighs and starts talking again "I was so confused"

"Look, if you don't want to talk about it I will understand"

"It's okay, it's just… looking back everything is so obvious and it makes me angry because everything would've been easier, you know?"

"It's still understandable if you don't want to talk about it"

"Long story short," Camilo continued, ignoring that comment, "he told me I could live with them, maybe help a bit and he'd keep me safe" Camilo seemed to be lost in his thoughts "That dick said I'd be 'safe', safe! Can you believe him? Of course you can, you don't know him. He was nice at first, and if I hadn't been human, he'd probably still be nice now"

Andrew kept silent, looking at Camilo, he seemed smaller now, compared to how he seemed when he was jumping from the trees, Camilo pulled on his rod, taking a small fish from it, and threw it again into the water.

"You're learning. I was human; I was curious and asked something I shouldn't have. It was like 4 weeks or a week, the hour change had me weirded out for a lot of time. But it was like the fourth attack they made, 'some rebels' he said 'they're against the Empire politics' but it was weird, this time I saw them, one of the guys left his weapon and I brought it to him, the rebels, the dangerous monsters… ok, ok, from our point of view they may be monsters, but we'll get to that later. Those dangerous monsters were villagers; they were defending themselves with hoes"

"So… you were on the wrong side of the fight?"

"Well… it isn't as black and white as that. I was on the best side for _me_ , if I were on that village, I would have ended up dead. They left it pretty much as a plain, no building left standing, maybe a basement survived but otherwise there was nothing much."

"And you asked about it. Why did they kill those people, right?"

"Almost"

"It wasn't as polite as that, right?"

"Right. It was rude, rude enough for him to make me float and break my arm. That was the first time I saw that, there was nothing, and I was still on the air, feeling a hand on my arm" Camilo lifts his left arm and points to a place slightly below the wrist, and moves his hand as if it was broken "I passed out"

"From a broken bone? Camilo, I broke my shin and yeah, it hurts like hell, but it's not to pass out"

"Wow, we have a tough guy here!" Camilo clapped in front of him, mocking him "no but really, you're cool, that was my first broken bone, and the situation kind of helped. After that came like 3? I don't know… the first few years were hard to count, with the different hours, the months and all that were weird. Like 10 years later I had a reference but, it didn't help much."

"I remember from your books, you wrote that it'd been almost a day and half in your world, but here were 4 or 6 days"

"That was also a time mess, you grow accustomed to that"

"Before you go on, how many hours did the day have, and the months."

"Well… the days had about 37 hours, poorly counted by me, but it was my closest approximation, and it's 17 months of 25 days, and 2 months that are a week each. About 3 or 4 years went by, they all started treating me like a slave, forcing me to work, lift everything in the camp, all that, and I had like 2 meals a day, edible if I was lucky. They were leftovers from the previous days. And that dick kept beating me when he wanted, just to tell me later that it was my fault. That if I didn't screw up his orders he didn't have to beat me into a pulp."

"He had you working with a broken arm?" Andrew still didn't know if it was real, it seemed that way, since Camilo was visibly affected by his tale, but it was still unbelievable "and kept beating you after that? You had to leave that place"

"Where? Imagine you're dropped off in the middle of nowhere, in a barn in China. You don't know anyone but the people treating you like shit, and no idea if you can even come back"

Camilo got his second fish and threw the hook again, he was tense, and he was sweating despite being so close to the water

"The world's scary when you have no one.. And at the beginning it actually seemed like he cared, at first he healed me with his magic; my broken arm got fixed in a day and kept hurting like a month, but every time seemed like he avoided breaking anything to not heal me, I was bruised, but I could work. That's what they needed."

"Look. Let's stop for now okay?" Andrew took Camilo from the hand and lifted him up "I'm not hungry so those fish should be enough for you right? Come on."


	3. Chapter 3

Camilo breathed in and out for a couple of seconds before he picked his fish up and stopped to look at Andrew. His deep brown eyes seemed darker; maybe because there was a lot of light hitting his face from the river, they also seemed smaller. They walked away from the river and sat down again at the fire. The sun was higher on the sky, and the heat was at its peak, even though the cold water was refreshing them. To distract himself, Camilo started explaining how to gut and skin the fish to Andrew, to kill a bit of time as well. After that, while Camilo ate some of them, and offered the other to Andrew, they spent time with just small talk on how he used the bow, and how it was a little different from movies and professional archers.

"-And it really hurts the first weeks, since you're learning how to place your body, and I almost ripped my forearm with the string."

"it just looks so easy," Andrew replied, it was interesting, and Camilo had a knack for explanations. He chewed on the last bit of fish, and spit out a couple bones before he continued, "you see tons of people do it and they never say those things, I didn't know you had to take the string out if you're not using it "

"Well, it comes down to breaking a few bows, and getting yelled at, and injuries. Oh Gods, so many injuries, all that"

"You broke one?"

"Hahahahaha!" His laughter made him spit part of the meat he was eating, making a mess on his clothes, after he finished swallowing, he went on to clean his clothes, shaking them a bit.

Andrew wasn't paying attention before, but now, he looked at how Camilo was dressed. He had a long leather coat lying next to his gigantic bag, near the fire. Nothing too fancy, a simple brown leather coat with a few belts near the sleeves, perhaps a bit bigger than himself. He, even in this heat, was dressed in thick clothes, a short-sleeved shirt, and thick pants. The sweat was dripping from his forehead, but he didn't seem to mind.

" _one_? Try 15 on the first year. Man, Lingster was pissed that day, he made me get him the wood from that day forward, and he was even worst the next day"

"Oh god, what did you do?"

"I kind of… took down a tree and dragged it home with a snapper."

"A whole tree?" Andrew was the one laughing now, Camilo just looked at him with a smile, he knew it was funny and seemed glad to be able to tell his story "I don't think you need a whole one for a bow, do you? What's a _snapper_?"

"You don't need a whole tree, at least not a stupidly big one." Camilo chuckled, "A snapper's a creature that has a pink skin, tough as a rock, and their faces are kind of embedded in their bodies, they don't have necks"

"Pink? Does it look like anything here?"

"Well… I guess it's like a hippopotamus with no head… and the size of an adult elephant, at least their cubs, they are weird, I mean, if they don't see you, you can tie stuff to them and they'll just keep on moving, you just guide them pinching their legs slightly"

"Wow…" Andrew didn't quite get the reference for the Snapper, Camilo's description was vague enough, but it did paint an unusual picture. After a few seconds of silence, Andrew continued with the story they left behind, "Do you feel any better?"

"Yeah, I do, I get carried away with many parts of the tale, whatever… wait a second" Camilo gets up and walks toward the edge of the waterfall, then he crouches and tugs on a rope for a while, then stops and stares at it for a moment, before letting it go and returning to Andrew "I guess it still hurts, even after all that time."

"Well, I'd think that's something good, it means that you are healing"

"You think? I thought everything I did was helping but it's still there. I mean, it's old history, but I just feel so…" Camilo tensed his fists for a couple of seconds, before letting go, "anyway, where was I?"

"You said they beat you, after killing those people"

"Oh right, well… it wasn't every day. It was when they were bored, usually in the morning, after their night training, when they had no orders, or people to fight."

"How many were there? They had to be a whole squad if they could wipe out a town"

"With _that_ general? Nah, they didn't need a lot of people, they were… 12? I'm not sure, let's see… Bagur the orc, and Monga The Furious, and… damn, that asshole… ah, Emotal," Camilo was counting with his fingers, with his eyes closed in the meantime, "he was _really_ creepy… Saimer the golem, Chira the incubus… succubus… no, no he reminded me of those, but his race was…"

"Wait, those are different right? One is male and the other female" _Religious stories, thank you_. Andrew said in his head, if it wasn't for his mother's stories, he would have no idea of anything.

"Oh no, no Andrew, they have neither male nor female, unless they're feeding, they were a... I don't remember!" Camilo grabs his head in frustration, trying to remember but the word wouldn't come to him "well, I'll remember in a few days, but they were, kinda neutral, you could say 'free for all' I think. Those are the annoying five; the others really didn't care about me, but would join if they had nothing more to do… Samier the beast, and Older one- "

"Wait, you already said Samier"

"What? No, it's Samier and Saimer, the golem and the beast. Saimer looked like a gray teapot, no eyes, but his 'handles', his hands, were longer, they almost reached the floor, even if he walked upright, his legs were short and always hot, he oozed heat, and he fought shooting that from his fingers, on the contrary, Samier looked like a bear, but with a wolf face, and a _beautiful_ personality."

"That's going to be hard to remember… okay, you wrote about a bear on your notes, is this the one? Or is it anyone else?"

"The bear is Lingster, my friend, he got kind of stuck with me, but wait for it, he comes later. The others usually were called with 'hey' or 'you there' so I don't have memories of that, I'll remember later, but they were a slime, a shadow, an elf that was ripped, I mean, in books they're blonde and skinny and gracious, but this guy—Felanor! Felanor was the elf, he was huge, taller than Samier. And the thing… he was and wasn't, I mean. He was like smoke, with shape and without it. He was the weirdest of them."

"Those are… eleven guys, twelve with Elkoala"

"Okay, I wasn't _that_ wrong… anyway, I spent like four years or so with them, until the day I decided to go."

"Why did you go? You learned anything about the world?"

"It's… it was go or die, really." Camilo's demeanor became grimmer, it seemed he was stirring something he didn't feel comfortable with but was forcing himself to continue, "I grew used to the moving, and the cleaning, and the beatings, and made them believe that I was passed out, so they'd stop… since Elkoala thought I was annoying and yelled at them when I was like that… only to beat _me_ afterwards for some reason. Let me ask you, since I've been talking non-stop, how would you have escaped from there?"

"w-well…" Andrew wasn't prepared for that question, at all. He thought for a quick moment, before he answered, "from what you've told me, the writing is different, but if you could talk you could look for a map and go towards a city, and tell them who was hurting you, and if they could help"

"Nice idea, but, where were you? A map of the region or country doesn't say 'you are here'"

"But you were moving, right? If you passed a river you could look for it in the map"

"There's tons of rivers"

"Right…"

This was harder than Andrew initially thought, and it was quickly becoming a teacher-student exercise, where Andrew was obviously the student. A couple things he noted mentally for this: 1. Camilo didn't seem to be lying with this story he was telling, as fantastic as it could seem. But it was still full of inconsistencies, for a weird reason he couldn't pinpoint. 2. If Camilo had been delusional, this wouldn't have made as much sense as it did. There had to be some underlying cause for his fantastical way of storytelling that lied in a real situation, perhaps as a coping mechanism.

"Okay," he continued, "so maybe waiting for them to move and run for a previous town?"

"Oh..." Camilo seemed genuinely surprised that it never occurred to him before, "that's actually a better plan than mine"

"Really? It would seem like the best plan by elimination" a surprised reaction from Camilo to such a simple answer stirred something in Andrew's mind, although he still didn't know where his ideas were taking him.

"Well… you probably would have had a better time there… after my trigger, it was more along the lines of 'better get killed by an animal than by these people'"

"What happened?"

"The emperor came…" Camilo took a deep sigh, "The general, Elkoala, was going out in the morning and he'd come back with him at night. In the meantime, _I_ had to clean up every tent, plus the kitchen, plus Saimer, the arena, weapons, mounts, and all that. To be quite honest, I was happy, a whole day of things to do, no one getting in the way or bothering me! it was almost a dream… a sad, pathetic dream… I finished around dinner, and it was still like 3 hours left for them to come."

"Wait, wait, wait. Why did you have to clean Samier?"

"Saimer." Camilo 'clarified', "He must not get wet or he'll blow steam disproportionately, like, a cup of water would make him fill a school with steam, hurting a lot of people"

"Then, how did you-?"

"I don't want to remember that" Camilo made a disgusted face while looking away for a second "the noises he made… ugh."

"Okay, so that went… well, I guess… you finished early, that's no reason for them to kill you"

"it's- It's what those dickheads did… they thought it would be _real_ fun to ride their mounts in the camp, blindfolded or something, and have _me_ cleaning up after, or so they said. They'd done it a few times before, and it usually took me the night to clean up, so this time I spoke out, saying something different to my usual 'yes' or 'I'll do it now'"

Andrew only looked at him, it usually involved women in his sessions, but this was _abuse_ , and what he was saying would cause his abusers to lash out at him, no matter how polite he could say it, it would end in a horrible situation.

"Wow… you're scaring me, say something" Camilo called out to Andrew, who seemed distraught in front of him.

"What happened? After that, nothing good, I Imagine"

"Yes and no. Shadow was the one who heard me first, and then told the others. It took him a couple minutes to gather everyone. All because I said, 'can't you behave like adults for a night?'" Camilo chuckled, a dark chuckle like his fun came from a horrible place, "Emotal was running, he probably wanted my head"

"They hit you again... How long did it take you to heal this time?"

"Oh, getting ahead buddy. They _did_ hit me. But _this_ time" Camilo makes his hand in a fist and looks at it for a while "well, I had eaten that afternoon, so I wasn't feeling so bad. This time, I hit back. Each kick, each punch, I gave them back"

There was a momentary pause. Between the two of them, that seemed to stretch forever.

"I can't believe you." Andrew crossed his arms, he was trying to keep an open mind, but an abused person didn't lash out against their abusers _just_ like that. He himself knew it. And a malnourished person would have no energy to fight anyone, much less eleven people "you're full of contradictions."

"Yeah, I am. I'm a human"

"Why do you tell me this, then? it's unlikely that I'll believe you" Something off was going on, and Andrew needed straightforward answers.

"Because…" Camilo paused, looking around, trying to get help from an invisible partner, "Because… I don't know _why,_ okay? A couple of weeks ago I thought it was time to tell you, but I have no real reason to do this." Camilo stared at Andrew, he wasn't angry, but he did seem disappointed "Look, I'm not forcing you to hear me; you can leave whenever you want"

"I don't want to. I want to help you with your problem. Hearing you out may help"

There was a spark in Camilo's eyes, something Andrew couldn't recognize, and it seemed like he was getting some sort of idea.

"I could show you, but we may not come back if I do."

"What?"

"There's a portal down there" Camilo leaned back and pointed towards the waterfall "in a couple of hours I'll get in there, and start walking to the next one"

"What?! You're gonna jump?"

"Technically, I'll fall, but on the other side I may fall upside down, or sideways. It depends on how's the portal on the other side" Camilo said, matter of fact, like it was the most logical thing he'd ever said.

"You're a pain when you want."

"Oh, believe me, I know" Camilo looked at him again, Andrew's eyes seemed different somehow, almost angry, but Camilo saw curiosity deep into them, and he felt the need to keep talking "but you can also be a pain when you're jumping around to conclusions"

Both of them were stubborn, they knew it, but for that same reason they couldn't let anything slip past them, so now they just sat there, staring at each other, in a weird silence, interrupted by the river flow, and a few voices that sounded far away from their place.

"Show me, then."

"What?!"

Now was Camilo's turn to be shocked about the sudden change in demeanor, he thought that he would go on without believing, but he never imagined that he would ask for something so crazy as that.

"No! no way! You're not coming with me."

"Oh, so you admit it's not true then."

"It's not that, you tit!" Camilo jumped from the ground with a yelling voice, it seemed that Andrew was going too far with his attitude "you'll die"

"And you won't? Because you're some super archer, fighter, soldier who can go on with two meals every, what? 16 hours?"

"Fine!" Camilo glared at him. After all, he wasn't one to back from a challenge.

"What?"

"Call anyone you want and say your goodbyes. This ride will take at least a few years, and I'm not sure we can come back. If you wanna be like this, then go ahead, but then don't come crying to me."

Camilo stood up and crossed to the other side of the river through the current, disappearing between the trees for a while. Andrew just sat there dumbfounded. In part, from Camilo's way of talking to him, despite being at least 20 years younger than him, his voice sounded like he could be his father, it carried authority, and he even felt compelled to obey.

"I guess I won't lose anything calling mom…" he mumbled for a moment, "And I need to check on that asshole too."

* * *

Camilo came back a while later with another, smaller bag and found Andrew screaming at his phone, surprised, he crossed the river trying not to get it wet and kept coming closer by the time that he hung up in exasperation.

Andrew saw him coming and decided to cut the call and leave his father talking alone, as he'd done a few times already, turning his phone off as well "where did you have that bag? You already got the big one back there"

"I put it where I started searching for the portal. It was a couple hundred meters that way… That seemed like a heated argument. You alright?"

"It's not your problem. Where did you want to take me?" Andrew stuffed his phone in his pocket in a forceful manner while looking at him.

Camilo said nothing, only making a gesture towards the edge of the waterfall, cutting him short before his complains, he tugged the rope that was there with both hands in the opposite way to prove that it was well tied – it seemed it was tied to a tree trunk, just under the grass, so it wouldn't be seen – and it would stand the weight.

"I'll go and shake the rope when I stop, _then_ you go, if the rope doesn't move, I'll go ahead without you, no hard feelings, no resent" Camilo looked at him, almost pleading with his eyes "look, please don't do this. You got maybe 27 to 1 odds to survive, and I'm thinking that with me keeping you company"

"Yeah, yeah, whatever… just, get on with it." Andrew was annoyed, much more than Camilo had seen before, and it was because of whoever it was on the phone.

"Okay"

Camilo started going down, slowly, grabbing every edge he could to compensate for the rope, finally going only with the rope's support since every rock was wet. The descent took him a while, the bag grew heavier with each second and he cursed himself for packing so many unnecessary things.

He reached the end of the descent about 30 meters below the edge, into a small dent between the rocks, he rocked himself a bit until he could reach the inside of the dent, which grew a bit wider the deeper he went, the rope lied at his feet and he tugged on it a couple of times before setting his bag down. He then came back to the opening of the little cave and waited.

It was a couple of minutes before the rope actually started moving, Camilo had thought that Andrew left and was almost relieved before it did, but his luck didn't run so well today.

Andrew seemed far better than him descending, since it took him less than what Camilo thought he did and was hanging in front of him in a few seconds, Camilo took the rope from the ground and reeled him closer, so he could enter and pointed forwards while walking ahead of him.

Inside the cave was an eerie silence, it seemed as if every piece of life abandoned the place, no bugs, no bats, nothing was in this cave, and yet, it felt as if something was watching Andrew, it made him feel uneasy, and he was reconsidering every second of the walk.

"Here we are." Camilo pointed towards the rock wall and the apparent end of the cave.

"No magical whirlpool? No smoke? No weird sounds that seem to get out of nowhere? Camilo, this is almost disappointing"

"Suit yourself. You know where's the exit"

"And what? You're going to stay here?"

"I'm _leaving_ , last chance. Go back, I beg you, we both could get killed if we go"

"Yeah, that _wall_ sure looks out to kill."

"Okay, see ya on the other side" Camilo swallowed and closed his eyes facing the wall, and took a few steps forward before muttering "please, let there be ground in there"

Andrew reached out to stop Camilo from diving face first into the cave wall, even sprinting a bit to reach his shoulder, before harshly shaking him and start nagging him about his recklessness and how dangerous could it be if he were to cut himself at the edge of a stone covered in who knows what.

Camilo didn't look at him, he was looking behind him and all around, there was a light breeze coming from behind him, and Andrew was now against the wall of the cave, he still felt the portal there, against the wall, but he was trying hard to hold back his tears. He wasn't sure it worked, and, if not mistaken, it was the same cave, with the same cold wind blowing into it.

He felt like a fool, he, now, had to admit all his life had been a lie, his friends all in his mind, and his problems still there. He felt his head cracking inside, as if he was finally giving in into all the problems he thought he had left behind.

"-It can get infected! And so close to your eye can even make you go blind!"

"Let's go." Camilo's voice sounded broken, it grew difficult to keep his calm expression.

"You still haven't shown me—"

"I don't care!" Camilo pushed Andrew and made him hit the wall of the cave "It didn't work, okay!? I'm still stuck in this rock, and now _I_ believe I'm crazy, so go ahead and laugh, and send me to a fucking clinic to get tied up and forced to chug on pills"

Camilo stomped his way towards the breeze, letting his tears flow while Andrew watched him from behind. He hit his head and it hurt, but it wasn't anything serious, not even a scratch, only a bit of dirt. Andrew felt a cold wind climbing through his back, Camilo was now disillusioned, and it could be dangerous for him to have his delusion broken so harshly, so he ran to catch him before anything dangerous happened to him.

"Camilo! Camilo where—" Camilo ran back, frenzied, and jumped on top of him. Covered his mouth, he had a crazy look on his face and threw his bag on the ground while keeping his mouth shut.

"Shh! Please, _please_ don't talk." he whispered, the finger on top of his own lip shook out of control and he kept looking over his shoulder towards the small opening in the rock, "I'm gonna take my hand off, don't move, don't talk, don't _do_ _anything_ okay?"

Camilo took his hand slowly off Andrew's mouth, he then moved towards the bag and opened a small pocket on the outside, he took a pencil and a notebook from it and started scribbling as fast as he could.

Andrew sat up, still there, shaken. Either Camilo was having an episode that he didn't have while in the clinic, or he saw something horrible on the outside. M _aybe he realized how high is this cave,_ he thought, but he kept silent to avoid making him anxious.

After a while, Camilo put the book down and untied his bow from the bag, he sat there checking every cranny, looking at the string and taking some metallic arrows from the bag in complete silence, then he threw the book to Andrew and inched towards the cave exit.


	4. Chapter 4

_There's an exit about 30 meters to the right of this dent in the cave, when I shout anything, run towards there. Run and don't stop until I catch up to you, no matter what you hear. Keep running and look for an exit there._

Andrew was confused by the writing. He knew they were above a lake, by the waterfall, but this description didn't make any sense.

He stood up slowly, Camilo had left the bag on the floor, and was now breathing slowly, trying to calm down, his bow ready at his hands, and an arrow already notched there. It was unnerving to see Camilo with murder in his eyes.

Camilo shot an arrow, before Andrew could say anything, and darted through the opening as soon as it hit, leaving him alone in there. He approached the cave's exit running, once he did, he heard Camilo's steps, but there should be a fall on the outside, not something to run.

"RUN! GO AWAY! RUN!" Camilo was yelling, and the cave's echo made it seem it was coming from everywhere at the same time.

He heard Camilo's voice and poked his head out; he then saw _it_ and almost heard the book hit the floor.

In a small drop in front of him, after a small ledge outside of this small cave, Andrew saw a bigger cave, with an open ceiling that let some moonlight come in. It seemed there was a blizzard coming, as this moonlight was quickly obscured as soon as he noticed it. in the center of the bigger cave, stood a gigantic creature, about 6 meters high, a humanoid figure stood there, trying to catch Camilo with an overgrown hand and something resembling a tentacle that came from its hip area. It had feathers on its back, dyed in a black that Andrew thought should be impossible, it had one leg and something similar to a bone coming out from his back, which seemed to keep it standing while it tried to come closer to Camilo.

Andrew saw Camilo running around it, dodging, jumping, and cursing loudly at the creature, all while his brain struggled to understand the very definition of monster that was standing near him, focused on catching Camilo, possibly to eat him.

Camilo shot an arrow towards the tentacle but running did a number on his aim and the arrow came higher, hitting it somewhere resembling a neck. The creature screamed in a high-pitched tone, loud enough to stop Camilo to cover his ears and to snap Andrew out of his numbness. He ran back into the dent and towards the wall he came from, hoping that whatever brought him here would bring him back.

 _That idiot!_ Camilo cursed him mentally, he had 6 arrows in his hand and the creature was far too big to be stopped just with that.

 _Surroundings. Stop it._

 _Don't let it catch Andrew._

 _Duck!_

His last thought came interrupting him, to avoid the tentacle from grabbing him. The best option he had was to push the big bone that provided it with support, but he had to get closer and that was the last thing he wanted.

"THROW THE QUIVER IF YOU HEAR ME!"

He knew it was a waste, Andrew was probably too scared to think straight, so he kept dodging, trying to get some distance between them. He was out of the arm reach, but the tentacle seemed infinite, it kept reaching out no matter how far he went, and the cave space didn't give him room to outmaneuver it.

With very few options to follow, and having it focused on himself, he got to the opening he had told Andrew they could use to escape and ran inside it. The tentacle followed him close, but he could aim while running in the narrow space. He shot it once, twice in close space, hitting it whenever it got too close and making it wince, giving him time to turn around and examine the next route. The tentacle seeped some clear liquid with a sweet smell, but Camilo could only think that it was toxic due to his old age paranoia.

Camilo was a few hundred meters inside these tunnels when the tentacle stopped moving and started retreating. Confused, he paused for a second, but heard a screech from the creature, as if it had been attacked by him once again. Camilo got a cold sweat, so he started running back into the cave. There was only one else inside that cave. Running back, he saw the creature coming closer to a frozen Andrew, who was holding the whole bag in his arms.

 _He's gotta hide!_

 _The tentacle!_

 _He's gotta run._

 _He won't get far with the bag._

 _Its bone is exposed._

"RUN!" he shouted, shooting again towards the creature's back. "FUCKING RUN, ANDREW!"

The creature ignored him and kept going towards Andrew.

The tentacle was already reaching out towards him and Andrew didn't budge.

Camilo ran as fast as he could, but time seemed to stretch on forever.

Camilo prayed to Kiltha to be fast enough and strong enough.

Camilo had an idea but didn't have time to even finish it through.

He closed his eyes and held onto his bow, he put his shoulders low and his head to his side and, with a thud, came to stop at the bone, cracking it, without making the beast flinch.

Since the beast ignored him, he started kicking the bone as hard as he could, he put his hands into every crack and pulled to make it bigger, until the bone itself started cracking. His desperate attack was accompanied by incoherent yelling. Camilo was desperate to get this monster's attention. Due to this unusual frenzy from its prey, the creature tried to turn to face him. This action, born of impulse, only put more weight into the already fragile bone, finally breaking it and making itself fall to the ground.

Camilo ran to the side to avoid the collapsing creature and its head almost crushes him. Since this was far from over for Camilo, his impulse didn't stop at that. He climbed atop it's face and shot an arrow into some liquid that seemed to act like its eye. He shot once again and a final time before the creature stopped squirming.

Camilo gasped for air on top of it. All of his workouts, all of his relentless training had helped, but he was tired. Way more tired than he had expected to be after just his first fight. This would be a long trip, and a dangerous one, if he couldn't do much more than this.

As he gasped out for air, he reached towards the liquid to touch it. It was cold and gooey but didn't seem to do anything other than allowing it to see. He reached deeper into it, the gross feeling enveloping most of his arm, and took his three arrows back, pulled them out and readied one just in case. He walked backwards in a slow pace, eventually making his way towards Andrew without taking his eyes off the creature until he bumped with him.

He snapped his fingers in front of a dazed Andrew, the lights were on, but it almost seemed he himself wasn't there.

Camilo took him by the arm and dragged him towards the exit. They walked in silence while Camilo checked every curve and hole before moving in. During all of this, Andrew just walked in a daze, almost out of himself. They spent 20 minutes walking before coming into another exit, much to Camilo's relief; worried they would have to come back and look for another way out of the cave, and to find out if the beast could heal itself.

Camilo stepped out and came back in immediately, there was a blizzard outside and he was underdressed for it. Only now, after having run around carrying around Andrew, he took a moment to breathe and rest. Andrew just stood there, seeing into nothingness all the time, shaking. From fear or cold, Camilo didn't know, but after a while of pondering, he stood up again and slapped him across the face.

"What is wrong with you?!" Andrew barked at him, he dropped the bag and touched his face right where it had been hit. His reflexes had been good enough of a response, for Camilo's standards.

"What is wrong with _you_?!" Camilo replied back calmly, even while Andrew approached him menacingly, "I told you _exactly_ what to do and you just stood there like a, a, I don't know, something that stands"

"What?"

"You almost _died,_ Andrew. Because _you_ didn't _listen_." Camilo paused to let it sink in but repeated it for emphasis "you almost _die_."

Andrew grew weak in his knees and fell to the ground. "I almost died…" he seemed about to go into the same daze again, but pulled his hands onto his hair, almost pulling it "why would you bring me here?! I couldn't get back! I tried and tried and tried and there was _nothing_! You left me there alone with that thing! That thing was going to eat me!"

"Oh, grow up" Camilo argued while crouching to get the bag, he opened it and started taking some clothes out, "It wasn't going to eat you, it didn't have a mouth"

"That's not the point! What am I doing here? I want to go home!" Andrew kept shaking uncontrollably on the ground, before getting covered with a big and thick fabric "what's this?"

"it's something I got made for this weather" Camilo said as he was already putting something similar on. It looked like a robe with a hood, covered with some sort of fur on the inside, apparently for better warming. It was pretty thick so Camilo was almost lost into it once he wore it, "put it on, it's cold out there…"

"I am not going out there! What do we do if there are more of those things out there?"

"Listen, Andrew. You're being _really_ difficult right now. I told you a lot of times to go back before you followed me into this world. Did I say you were gonna die?"

"Yeah but—"

"Then suck it up, at least for now. Sorry Andrew, but, at least right now, we have to keep moving. I don't know what that creature is, so it's always possible for it to be immortal, or to have good regeneration, so let's NOT find out if it does, okay? Or do you wanna stay and see if it's still angry when it wakes up?"

A dead silence filled the cave while Andrew seemed to lose color on his dark skin. Camilo continued rummaging through his bag until he managed to get a few more arrows out.

"There's a knife in the pocket of those clothes, don't cling to it while we're outside. Do what I tell you and maybe you won't have to use it on anything if we don't get in even more troubles."

Andrew looked back to the place they came from. It was horrible to even think that the monster was still alive, but it all had been a blur, so he could not argue against that. He stood up and started putting the robe on. Since he was taller than Camilo, it fit him better but still covered his body enough to keep the cold out. He saw the knife inside the breast pocket, on the inside of his robe. It was far bigger than he thought it would be, the blade and handle were almost the size of his forearm but was still small enough to be held with one hand. When he was ready, he turned to see Camilo on his knees and with his face laying in the ground.

"I dedicate this injustice I've committed to you, oh Kiltha, lady of death, lady of justice. To be judged and deemed necessary or unnecessary. And to dispense to me any punishment I deserve if it were the case. Please guide me to avoid death and follow justice, so that this doesn't happen again."

Camilo stood up and dusted himself. As he did, he made a curve in the air with his index and thumb before turning to Andrew and grabbing his bow again. It looked to Andrew like it was some sort of rite he was performing but was shocked enough to not interrupt.

"Look." He said, perhaps a bit tired from doing this, "Whatever we find out there, good or bad, at least run. If you stand there, doing nothing but being a giant-ass target, you'll be a burden"

"Please, Camilo, just stop, tell me what are we going to do?" Andrew pleaded, he didn't like Camilo's attitude with him right now, but it looked like he was the only one he had to even get a chance to survive, "How do I go back? Where are we? I'm getting cold, are you sure we can't stay here?"

Camilo looked at him. He was so scared. Of course he was, it was reasonable for him to act like that. Camilo was scared as well, but he, at least, knew what could happen when he started this trip.

"okay… we'll stay here until the blizzard stops, but if we hear _anything_ , we move. I don't care if there are stones raining, we leave. For now, I'll go out for a second—"

"No! Don't leave me!"

"Andrew, we need food. We need fire. So, unless you have a way of doing that without getting out, I'm all ears."

"Don't you have anything in your bag?"

"It's a bag, not a magic pocket. Who do you think I am, Dora the Explorer?" Camilo took a deep breath, he remembered Lingster do the same when they met and that almost made him smile, _oh, how the tables have turned_ , he thought, "Look Andrew—"

"You have magic, right? You can do it!" Andrew climbed onto Camilo, tripping him and making him lie on the cold floor "we can also go back that way!"

"Andrew! Breathe, count backward from one thousand… 'kay? calm down" Camilo put his hands softly on the big shoulders of the man, he counted a few times to help him relax "you taught me this, remember?"

"Yeah… I'm better now" Andrew stood up and helped Camilo to get up as well "I am… sorry you had to see that"

"I'm not. It's the most emotion you've shown me in a while. It's good… now, we're in a barn in china, and we don't know anything or anyone, what should we do?"

Andrew looked at him with a puzzled expression until their earlier talk clicked in his head "oh! I-I don't know… we _do_ need food and fire, but food can wait. No, we have to walk, right? Then… we have to… hunt"

"Good, good!" Camilo smiled widely, glad he'd gotten his psychiatrist back on track, "Are you against hunting? Or are you vegan? We can go together, or you can wait for me. What do you wanna do?"

"I don't like hunting, but… I guess if I have to, I will. Can we go together?"

"Sure. But you need to—"

"Yeah, yeah, I'll do anything you say if it doesn't get me killed"

"Whoa there, buddy. Be careful what you say, you can get in problems for that. Now, take your shoes off, and put on your hood"

Camilo put his bow down, stretching his fingers and then started digging again through the bag, putting some pots out before taking leather boots and gloves "You have big feet, you'll have to wear these barefoot. I have three pairs more in case you get numb. Tell me when you feel your fingers numbing"

"Give me another pair, please." Andrew grunted a while, wearing the tight shoes, "You have gloves too? What do I do? I haven't hunted in years, and never with a bow."

"Oh, you are _not_ touching _my_ bow." Camilo threw the gloves onto Andrew's lap "Listen, walk close to me, for now, we'll just get wood and try to burn it. We can also look for small game, but on the side. How do you feel?"

"Like a stuffed bear. This is too thick"

"That's what she said." Camilo winked at Andrew, trying to motivate him, but only got a scowl from him "spoilsport. Any questions?"

"Do you know what we can eat? Where do we go?"

"I feel a portal… maybe a few of them, a few hundred miles that way" Camilo pointed towards the interior of the cave, and then shook his head "but it feels way too hot compared to here. If we're not too accustomed to this cold when we get there we could try it, but it would be better to try any of the other… six? that are further away, they feel more alive"

"How do you feel it? Can we trust that feeling?"

"Well, we got here, didn't we? About the food, we don't know what to eat, we can watch what the 'prey' in this place is, but we have to take a risk when we eat for the first time. There's also a chance that we can't eat anything in this world or some of the others, so… keep your fingers crossed, okay? You didn't eat before we came so we have about a day of walking without food before you start feeling really bad about it"

"I can't walk a whole day! And even less in the cold!"

"You haven't even gone out of the cave"

Silence grew in the small cave, it grew colder by the second since the blizzard was now in front of them, and it was getting painful to stand still. Camilo looked to the outside and thought about staying until it stopped, but he was in a hurry and they weren't sure if the beast was able to come back and attack them. He felt sorry for Andrew, but he kept thinking it was the same with him years ago, and he had to endure it until they were some place safe.

"Look, Andrew, let's walk and see if we can find wood for the time being. We'll stop after we get it and I'll go and find food while you warm up."

Camilo helped Andrew get up and patted him in the back to raise his spirit, then, he took him by the hand and both of them went out into the thick of the blizzard. Camilo knew the temperature was under zero, but he didn't dare tell this to Andrew, especially since it wasn't accurate. The wind was blowing strong enough to force him to cover his face and force his way through. The amount of snow coming with the wind was, however, minimal, and this would help them to keep some of the heat while they found cover.

They didn't have too much visibility, only about 20 meters or so, which was good to disguise them from predators, but also made them more likely to get too close to them without noticing it. Camilo rushed ahead, some years before he'd climbed mountains in better climate conditions but with more snow, and so he had experience with his movements, on the contrary, Andrew was slow and clumsy, he had bad footing and the wind often made him stumble when it changed direction.

They walked with the mountain wall about 8 meters to their right side, in hopes of reducing the chance of a surprise, but found no trees in their surroundings, so they focused on finding another cave to enter and rest for a bit. The wind made it more exhausting to walk than Camilo had anticipated, and, even if he could force himself to walk until tired or until the time limit he usually counted mentally until frostbite set in – a horrible pain he had experienced healing it made him more cautious, years ago – he didn't know if Andrew would stand with such a task, so he stopped here and there to let him take a breath or sit. Usually taking a couple of minutes to run a wider perimeter searching for trees and coming back before Andrew worried.

Andrew had the hood shut tightly in place with his hand, leaving just enough space for his nose and eyes to breathe and see, but he felt the cold sting in his bones. They were far from where they started, and Camilo didn't even seem to break a sweat, but Andrew could only think of his own pain. Maybe it had been that, since Camilo kept moving while he sat for a while to take a breather, he was in a better state than his, but Camilo definitely didn't show being tired at all.

It was now almost 25 minutes of walking according to Camilo's count and the storm was finally slowing down. The wind was less harsh than before, and this gave Andrew a bit more of freedom to move. They had come close to some bushes, stripped of their leaves from the winds, and Camilo was taking as much wood as he could, to compensate for how thin they were.

Andrew helped with another bush while his hands shook far more than they had ever done before. He dropped what he had collected so far, because of this and when he started picking them up he found some small eggs. The eggs were a bit clear, letting a bit of light come through their shells, but without really showing the insides. It was a total of 9 eggs he'd found, and he dropped everything else to show Camilo.

Camilo took one of them, a bit rounder and bigger than a chicken's and squished it a bit. It didn't look completely edible to him, but it was better than having nothing. He frowned at the egg for a moment but told Andrew to hold onto the rest of them, leaving him to gather the rest of the wood. Absentmindedly, Camilo let go of the 9th egg, and they kept going on.

15 minutes more and Camilo was now constantly asking Andrew about his hands and feet, if they were numb, if they hurt somewhere, if it had any issue moving them. They finally found another opening in the wall of the mountain after Camilo's incessant asking, but this one was less deep, and so, they would receive more wind if they didn't cover the entrance. It would also make it more difficult for them to heat up, since the wind would blow the fire away. Camilo sat Andrew down and left again running. Andrew didn't feel numbness in his extremities, but Camilo told him it would be dangerous to keep getting colder before he darted away from this new cave, making a mental note of the location and leaving Andrew alone again.

Camilo ran and ran as fast as he could, there wasn't much more vegetation aside the bushes, and most of it were succulent plants – their leaves thick and filled with water or other substances – not very sturdy to make a barrier from the wind. He stumbled upon a few thicker pieces of wood, about 10 centimeters thick once he was about to give up. These would not be enough for a fence to protect them against animals, but it was enough to make a barrier with some fabric, and useful as lumber, both of which were a higher priority for now. Once he got them, he started making his way back, hoping not to have taken too much time.

While all that happened, Andrew had made a ball of himself, covered in bed sheets. Trying to keep the heat that quickly evaded him while he waited for Camilo to come back. He, after a while of rolling around, saw a big bird land on the ground, apparently, examining what they left behind as tracks, from moving among the snow. Focusing on the bird again, it seemed as if the wind didn't dare to touch it. It seemed majestic, even with its dull colors, it had gray-tinted, blue feathers in its head, and the rest of the body had feathers in a dark green, also tainted with gray, making it look as if it was withering, or close to dying. It was some sort of owl, but it's unusual colors made Andrew confused. It looked cute, from where Andrew was sitting, as a curious small animal, interested in prints it probably never saw before. Without any warning, Andrew sneezed, the cold getting into his nose, and this made the bird take notice of him. The bird came closer to Andrew without taking its big black eyes from him. it seemed to Andrew that it was curious about him, after all, this was another world, it could be that humans didn't exist here, and it was curious. Andrew could feel his own color starting to dull as the bird approached and seemed to be of the size of a big bear, only seeming small due to the distance.


	5. Chapter 5

It felt forever, and Andrew probably panicked while he was away, but he was finally done collecting wood. Camilo tied all of it to his back and came back with the wood. It made him slower, but at least he could keep Andrew safe and warm while he went out again and looked for more food than half a dozen small eggs. Camilo was partly warm, but the cold was getting into his legs. His bones hurt.

About 40 meters away from the cave Camilo lifted his eyes from the white ground and saw an enormous pair of wings extending. They moved as if they were slightly agitated and he couldn't see Andrew anywhere nearby. Camilo dropped the wood and ran towards the bird readying an arrow as silently as he could manage with the snow betraying him on every step. When he came closer he aimed the arrow to the center of the bird's back and shouted as loud as he could.

"Stay away from there!" he waited for the bird to fly away scared, but it didn't flinch, it just turned its head slowly towards him, as if sizing him up.

Camilo lowered his bow and shot the first arrow into the ground, about 15 cm away from it and prepared another arrow while the bird watched him.

The bird retracted its wings and turned around slowly, revealing Andrew behind it, trying to see what was making the noise.

"Camilo! Camilo, come!" he didn't sound scared, but anxious to talk with him, making exaggerated gestures.

"Are you okay?" Camilo came closer without lowering his bow or taking his eyes from the creature.

"Oh yeah, this guy here was saving me from the wind, and it's so warm that it helped me with the cold- put that thing down for God's sake, you're making us nervous" Andrew argued, seemingly more energetic than he was before.

"You're awfully calm for someone with such a giant beast in front of it, weren't you worried the other one would eat you? Why are you not scared of this one?" Camilo was now a few meters closer, and he could see this bird was bigger than him. it puffed its chest and Camilo eyed it all over, trying to get a glimpse of its physiognomy.

"I would not eat a human that saved the children," said the bird with a deep, yet calm growl. Without opening its mouth and without changing its unfazed expression, "Unless you plan to kill me, I suggest you drop your weapon. Not that a small one like you could come close to it."

"Great, why do I get the smug ones all the time?" Camilo lowered his bow, his shoulders still tense, his walking slow, "who are you? What children did we save? And other than that, how do you know we're humans?"

"Your kind has been coming and going from this place far longer than any creature that now lives can remember… in addition, your friend said he was a human when he heard me talking"

Camilo shot a piercing look towards Andrew. Mostly because it had been a habit, before, in his world, and relaxed his stare while slumping a bit. After all, it was his fault for not making a few countermeasures beforehand. Camilo returned to the wood he dropped and brought it back to the cave. Camilo looked at the bird at all times he could without seeming hostile, and the bird kept looking at him all the time. It almost seemed that it didn't need to blink. Once he finished getting some of the wood in place, Camilo turned around to the bird and found a claw directly below his chin. A smug smile on its face.

"You are more alert than other humans that have passed through this mountain." It said, calm, not threatening, but rather congratulatory, "But not enough to survive in the woods below"

"I wouldn't say that y'know," Camilo started, not really moving from his place, "after all, I can survive with a pierced chin, but I think living without a heart can be difficult, wouldn't it?" The bird looked down and saw a long blade, thin at the tip but slightly wider at the center of it, a wide machete it seemed, with its tip merely a few millimeters in front of its gut, about 40 centimeters above the ground.

"How do you-" The bird started, taking a step back.

"You're no ordinary bird. I saw your gut moving slightly more than your chest." Camilo said, also taking a step backwards, it seemed like the bird was pleased with this display.

"That is not enough for you to discern such a thing."

"You flaunt your chest when you move your body." He started, holding the machete in his hands, "An animal hides its organs if it needs. It would be stupid to stab that part. What would it do? Stab muscle? No, it probably has softer tissue. Nice enough for a meal, don't you think?"

"Stop that please!" Andrew cried out, coming in between the two, "It was going to help! how can you talk to him like that?"

" _He_ started it." Camilo hid his machete under his sleeve, trying to get it placed in a small pocket inside it, silently congratulating himself for having made it that way, as eccentric as it looked "might as well be helpful, hey bird—"

"Kalenis. You are better than other humans, small one." its head tilted a bit, it seemed curious.

"'s not my first time in another world, Kalenis. And I'm Camilo… What can humans eat in this world?"

"Humans usually do not last enough to get food. The ones that did, ate the fruits of many trees on the forest. Most of them died shortly afterwards."

"What color and shape?" Camilo took his gloves off and touched the wood, the pieces were wet and it would take a long time before they even started burning, but the bushes leaves he found should help it burn. If not, he had fire starters in his bag, but he preferred to save them for later, "oh yeah, a creature with a puddle for an eye, a bone coming from its back and a huge hand with a matching tentacle. You got a name for that?"

"Wait." Andrew came in between again, perhaps a bit alarmed, worrying Camilo, "Mr. Kalenis, you were telling me about the blizzard, what did you want to tell me before this?"

"That the blizzard will pass today. But it will come back tomorrow in the morning. You should leave the mountain before that or you will freeze to death." Kalenis looked at Camilo shaking a small item that made a small flame; it seemed to the untrained eye like he was open for an attack, but further analysis showed him ready to counter it.

A _dmirable, for a human._ Kalenis thought "The fruit you as for is yellow, with small spikes coming from inside it. The meat itself is poisonous, but the spikes are edible for your kind."

"Meat?" Andrew asked, "You mean the pulp"

"I do not. It is, since you are no longer there, a different fruit from the ones in your world. This one has meat, for the seed will grow and feed on small creatures, but before that, it has to acquire a taste. You can grab it and pull the spikes without worries. I will bring one to you, if you were to wait for me."

"Okay, you can go, we have to warm up before we move again, right Camilo?"

"Sure, if we start this fire first." Camilo said, no longer looking at Kalenis while he tried to make the wood burn.

Kalenis bowed and flew with a strong movement of his enormous wings. Camilo tried one more time to start the fire before giving up and getting a fire starter from his bag. The small cube of grease of some kind – he didn't particularly remember what it was made of – caught on fire quickly, and Camilo arranged the small leaves and wood around it. In a couple minutes, the small branches were lit, although the starter had consumed almost all the way to its base. Camilo grabbed the knife Andrew had on his coat to cut some of the wider logs. It took him a while, but he managed to tie the rest of pieces and extended some sheets over them, making a thin membrane that let air flow but cut the strength of the wind. After setting it against the impromptu cave door, he looked towards the sky, full of gray clouds, and turned to Andrew, who tried to heat himself with the small fire.

"How many eggs did you tell him you had?"

"Well, I gave it all of them, I had 8. It seemed worried and angry about them. Aren't we lucky? It could have eaten us if we didn't save its eggs."

"Andrew… what if… question: How good of an actor are you? Can you deceive people?"

"What are you talking about?"

"There were 9 eggs. I dropped the one you gave me… if that bird had anything to do with those, he'd know we should have more… I think it may be plotting something." Camilo put his hand in Andrew's pocket, letting the knife fall in it, and got up "hold onto that knife. It's the only weapon he doesn't know we have."

"No!" Andrew cried out, refusing to even believe Kalenis had ill will, "He's a good man… bird… thing. Why do you want to kill it? It's done nothing to you."

"He's lying." Camilo sat down. His eyes seemed to see beyond the walls of the cave and he didn't look in the direction of Andrew "he gains nothing from lying to us about the eggs, so why do that? He may tell the truth about other humans but think about this: he hasn't said anything about our clothing, even though any other human that got here, probably did so by accident, and with clothes not suited for the cold. He didn't answer the question about what children we saved. He ignored the creature that attacked us when we arrived."

"It also didn't flinch when you shot your arrow…" Andrew's face felt colder than before, even with the fire growing in front of him "I didn't see him put his eggs somewhere safe."

"hmmm…" Camilo thought for a couple of seconds, acknowledging the information he just got, "he's being awfully cooperative for someone who was threatened a few seconds before"

"Camilo. Look. I can't hurt it. I saw him move; no way I can dodge something like that to my _face_ " Andrew was scared, and Camilo felt strings pulling on his heart. He was definitely not the kind of person for these situations.

"He thinks he's got you under his wings." He started, Gods, he wasn't really good at calming others down, "He knows I suspect he's plotting something, so he'll be ready. That's why I need _you_ to act as if I haven't told you anything. As I told you before, if anything gets ugly, please just run."

"Wait. It went to get that fruit. What if it wants us to eat it? It could try to poison us."

"I guess… but poisoned food can kill you, if he wants to eat us he won't poison us. But we're screwed if he's some sort of guardian."

Camilo heard noises outside and put a finger on his lips so Andrew would stay silent. He took his bow and a handful of arrows into his robe, then he creeped slowly towards the improvised barrier and, in a jump, came out pointing forwards. In a practiced order, he checked around: sky, walls, ground. Camilo caught the tail end of Kalenis falling flat on the snow, a bunch of fruits scattered around it.

Camilo approached, slowly. It could be a trap, so he kept his bow trained on Kalenis' head. Once he was closer, he saw wounds on its wings, a gigantic slash on its back. The wound was oozing a brightly colored blood, not enough to look like it would bleed out, but enough to worry. Seeing it so disabled and roughed up, Camilo dropped everything he had on the ground and came closer to inspect the wound.

"Go back to your world." Kalenis whispered, it was struggling to keep its eyes open, "The forest creature will come after me. He will kill you"

"Let it try… what can I do to help you? Andrew! Come here with some of those blankets!" Camilo studied the wounds, they were ragged, so it wasn't a blade that did it. it wasn't too deep either, but he saw something that didn't make sense, if Kalenis was trying to kill them.

It had been a while. Years, by now, since Camilo last saw wounds of this type. The wounds that resulted from a lack of defensive intent. Whatever it was that attacked Kalenis, it didn't hold back, and it looked like Kalenis didn't want to defend itself. Most of its wounds were in the back, so Kalenis got these wounds from running away from it.

Kalenis lifted its eyes to watch Camilo. Even in this situation, completely unarmed, he oozed confidence, as if nothing could touch him. Kalenis let itself fall asleep and stopped hearing him struggle against what she believed was only foolishness.

Camilo looked around him when the giant bird closed its eyes, it was injured but it didn't seem to be lethal. Kalenis, apparently, passed out from the shock of the attacks and exhaustion. Camilo checked closely every inch of the body, the only serious wound was the one on his back. But it didn't make sense, since all of the others were patches of feathers that had been ripped out. Andrew put the sheets on top of the injury, putting some pressure on it.

"Camilo, what do we do?"

"See if you can lift him. It should be light since he can fly. Get it into the cave and eat some of this fruit. Don't _move_ , _don't_ breathe, _don't look_ outside the cave, okay? Whatever it was that hurt him will probably come here."

"And him? He'll bleed out!"

"You're a _doctor?!_ I mean-Heal him!"

"I'm not that kind of doctor! I could help a person, maybe, I don't know! This is a bird! A huge one, I have no idea what to do! _You_ do something!"

"I know how to _kill_ animals, not heal 'em, so you'll have to make it up as you do it-"

Camilo felt warmth behind him and turned in a panic. There it was, a small a remnant of his world. It meant that, whatever was behind him, knew some sort of magic. A cold chill ran through his back: with magic, a simple fight could become a massacre.

"shit… okay, new plan, leave him here and go to the cave, try to be as quiet as you can, when you hear me say Excalibur, throw as many arrows as you can to the outside"

"What? No, no, no. It'll freeze to death here. You want me to—"

"I want you to stay _alive_!" Camilo said, grabbing Andrew from the neck of his coat, "That is all, go and stay there!"

Camilo was afraid.

His hands shook, not from cold.

He felt numb, in his fear. He could barely make out sounds around him.

It wasn't impossible, he was human, but it had been a long time since something shook him to his core.

He had been out of commission for far too long and now he had to fight in unknown lands, with unknown enemies, and without real support.

Andrew seemed to pick up on his expression and reluctantly walked towards the cave. Camilo walked behind Andrew, and once he was inside the cave, went back spreading out the snow, so it looked like he had just come out and was alone. Once he was next to Kalenis' body, he closed his eyes. He could hear Kalenis breathing faintly. Andrew was right. If it didn't end fast, Kalenis would die. But he had to ensure that the creature wasn't going to know how many people were there.

Time seemed to stretch.

The sound of the wind, picking up some snow.

His own heartbeat. Jagged, rushed, deafening, in a way.

Camilo held his breath for a while and let go when he noticed he had his right hand uncovered. It probably happened when he picked up his arrows, back at the cave. He preferred to leave his left hand without the glove on. It would be easier to hold the arrow to shoot, but the cold would make it numb in a couple of minutes. The clock was ticking.

The creature, at last, came into view.

It was slightly bigger than Kalenis. But it had a big, bone like, armor surrounding its body. This creature walked on four legs, but there were two extra protrusions on its back that went back and forth in disarray, as a pair of flailing arms. It had nothing resembling a head, but had paintings at its shoulders – or hips, depending on how it moved – that behaved as eyes, checking the surrounding area, stopping at Kalenis' body, and shortly after, at Camilo.

"A human" was the gravelly whisper that came rushing to Camilo. The beast had spoken, but its voice didn't come from its body, but rather all around and under him, "It's been. A while. Since we had. One of yours here"

"You see, we didn't have vacations for a while, and we prefer warmer weather." Camilo was sweating, even though the weather was definitely not inviting for it.

"Fun. Not many humans. Say such. Things." The creature paced towards the left, turning on itself without moving anywhere, but keeping the eyes on Camilo "usually. They scream"

"Chatty, aren't we?"

"I like you. Go away human. You will live." The beast tilted slightly forward "as long as. You don't go. To the forest. Or my portals"

"Oh, so you own the portals. Why?" Camilo slowly placed himself between the beast and Kalenis, trying to keep it distracted from the cave behind them "you did this to the bird?"

"Human. Always. So curious. Yes. The one behind you. Stole from my forest." The creature boldly walked ahead, closing the distance a few meters with each step. "I feed on them. As I do. With the ones from the portals."

"I see, okay, bye" Camilo turned around and started walking beside Kalenis. Kalenis was starting to float on the air while Camilo looked at him "Cool. You're doing this?"

"Yes human. Now go. I shall feed. It won't be pretty" an arrow stabbed the painting of one eye, making it melt and drop to the ground. It made a slight scratch on top of the creature's skin and bounced back. The remaining eye changed position to center itself, seemingly unaffected by the loss "poor choice"

The beast leaped forward at a speed unlikely for something of its size. Camilo leapt to the left but got hit by something he couldn't see while he was in the air. Camilo flew around from the force, spinning around, for a couple of meters.

The cold snow stung his chest. His coat had been ripped open with the graze and his arm hurt as if broken. Camilo, in a panic, dropped the bow and touched his right arm. Nothing felt broken, but the pain was slowly rising, and his forearm was brightly red.

Shooting the arrows didn't look like it would work, so he had to think outside the box. He picked up two arrows and held one in each hand, making a weird looking stand with his left side facing towards the beast. He tried to cover himself, while trying to keep his eyes on the creature.

"You know this is unfair right?" Camilo hid his uneasiness about how close this creature came to the cave, praying that Andrew was as silent as he could, "You've killed a lot of humans and I haven't killed even one of you"

"you can't" the beast came again in a jump. Camilo dropped down to the ground, instead of dodging it to the side, as before. Once he was down on the ground, he rolled to his right, this time, without further injury from the monster.

"Stay still." It seemed to roar, but its voice didn't seem to change volume.

"No thanks!"

Camilo turned around, his bow was far, on the ground, but still in one piece. He was making an idea of _what_ could it be that hit him before. It should be short, if it couldn't hit him below itself.

Camilo looked around. The cave was to his left now, and Kalenis was behind and to the left, still unconscious. The beast was trailing him, coming closer without jumping. It kept walking until it came to a halt, about 4 meters away from Camilo. Camilo felt warm again and jumped backwards in panic. When he did, he bumped into something there, and felt it grab him by his torso.

The thing, whatever it was, seemed to have entangled him. He felt pointy things closing in on his skin, slowly trying to stab him. he couldn't see anything, but the sensation was there. He took both arrows on his hands and stabbed the area where he felt the thing grabbing it. A bluish and thick substance started pouring out from it, it was warmer than the weather around him, it seemed to have been hurt.

The grip on his torso started to tighten up and Camilo felt himself sweating in the cold wind. He kept using his arrows to make even more holes in whatever it was. It was possibly some kind of hand or tail from how it felt. When he felt the first bone or claw thing pierce the side of his waist, he dropped the arrows and pulled out his machete, slashing at it and releasing himself into the ground.

"Die."

The creature took another jump at Camilo. This time, it did slightly lower than before. Camilo dropped to the ground again with his face up. He wanted to take advantage and try to cut it as it passed over him. This time, he felt a small puff of heat on him, as the creature flew over. The creature stopped less than a meter away from its starting point. But Camilo felt something wet remaining above him.

"Got you!" the beast shouted, and for the first time, it sounded like that.

Camilo slashed above himself and felt the machete hit something hard and bounce back. Something thick fell on his gut with great impulse, leaving him out of breath and dizzy from the pain.

Camilo lifted his eyes and saw the big eye of the beast looming above his face. It was closer than he thought, but he wouldn't be fast enough to dodge it and attack again without a distraction of some kind. Another hit came, and another. The beast didn't seem to apply enough force to kill, but Camilo was in pain and wanted to throw up.

His eyes were watery and he felt heavy.

Another hit square in the stomach pulled some bile up to his throat.

 _Get up you whimp!_ He heard in his head, Lingster was angry as usual while they practiced, _you won't hunt decent meat if you pass out just like that_.

Camilo felt his lips curl into a smile. Out of any moment to have flashbacks to his old life, now wasn't particularly the best moment to do so. He remembered he was back to square one, and he would have to think outside the box to save himself.

Camilo couldn't see what hit him, but it _was_ there. The blood had gone from it, as did the small lumps of snow it lifted after hitting him.

M _y hand hurts_ , he thought, the cold seemed to be getting to his bones faster than he thought, _I have to grip it harder_.

Camilo tried to get up but was put down with another blow closer to his chest. He saw the snow lifting above him and disappear. It seemed this thing was making things invisible around it.

He was hearing noises now, like steps all around him. He looked up again and saw the same unmoving eye staring at him. There was no emotion on it and that worried Camilo. He wouldn't know when it was going to hit if there was no sign.

He braced for another hit without blinking and heard something that wasn't an illusion.

"Dammit!" Andrew shouted, he had shot an arrow that flew perhaps 3 meters from where the bow was and hit his face and forearm with the string.

This was the only chance he would ever get. Camilo kicked the snow as hard as he could and as fast as his legs let him to get underneath the beast as soon as the eye moved onto Andrew. Camilo yelled out in a blind rage, while he drove his machete deep into the lower half of the beast. This time, the creature made a shrieking sound, almost as loud as an explosion, and Camilo flinched, but kept the machete in place.

Camilo started wiggling the tip of the machete inside the wound, trying to make as much of a mess as he could. The legs of the beast started stomping all around him, wincing from pain, and Camilo got hit on his own legs and arms a pair of times, but he kept taking the machete in and out in all the places he could.

After a while of stomping around and stabbing around, the beast fell on top of him, after going limp above his pained body.

Andrew saw the beast stop moving and dropped the bow to run to Camilo. This beast had fallen over Camilo and only his feet were left out of the beast. Camilo's feet were squirming under the weight, like he was trying to get out of it. Andrew grabbed Camilo's feet and started pulling with all he had. Camilo barely moved under all that weight, but Andrew kept pulling. In his first couple of tries, he fell to the ground, while Camilo was still under this monster. Andrew got up as fast as he could to keep pulling from Camilo's feet.

When Camilo was finally free, he pushed Andrew out of the way and spilled his previous lunch on the snow. Andrew felt nauseous by it but managed to keep it somewhat together. Camilo slumped to the side as he cleaned his mouth. Camilo let himself fall on the snow defeated. Andrew pushed him a little until he started grunting.

"Thanks for that, dude…" Camilo said looking to the side.

"Sure. How do you feel? Can we take Kalenis to the cave?"

"Yeah, yeah. We need to warm up. Can you get my bow please?"

Camilo pushed himself to get up, he grunted every time he moved, he was all bruised and it hurt to move in a couple of ways, but managed to grab Kalenis from the shoulders, to pull it towards the cave. Camilo was right, Kalenis had a light body, by comparison, at least, but Kalenis still was big enough to make it difficult to move. In the end, it took both of them to push Kalenis closer to the cave and remove the improvised barrier.


	6. Chapter 6

Camilo was dizzy. _A beating like that has that effect on people,_ he thought, feeling somewhat disappointed in his second fight of the way. Andrew seemed worried, but he didn't approach either, perhaps thinking he was depressed. Camilo smiled for a bit, and got up with some difficulty, approaching him.

"Andrew, uh… thanks, for the help back there. I needed a hand and you helped me a lot."

"it's fine." Andrew said, rubbing his face with his hand, it had a bit of snow on it, "how are you feeling?"

"Like I was beaten all the way to Morocco and back. I'm just a bit dizzy, I guess I need to rest."

"Dizzy?" Andrew asked, dropping the snow and approaching to examine him.

Both started to examine the other, realizing that they were injured. Andrew opened Camilo's eyes and moved him so that the sunlight, however dim it was, helped him see if there was any sign of brain injury or damage. Camilo came closer to Andrew's face and tried to examine a cut on his face. It wasn't deep enough to worry, but it would probably need help to close.

It was too soon, but Camilo had to start using his supplies some day or another. Now was a bit faster than expected, but it would have to work.

Camilo took the sheets and put the small 'wall' at the entry of the cave, so they would all be inside, not open to the wind, and were able to warm up somewhat with the remaining wood. Kalenis was on the ground, with her wound facing upwards. Even without any treatment, the wound had stopped bleeding, but the gap was still there, the breathing had improved in the meantime, or at least, had become slower than before. Camilo grabbed his own arm, softly, it was still hurting from the fight and shaking a bit, and pulled the sleeve up to see the skin mildly irritated. On the other hand, he checked Andrew's arm after he shot his bow. The thick leather of his coat seemed to have taken most of the string's possible impact, leaving a red mark, but no real wound. His face, however, still worried him with that wound.

"you're-" Both tried saying at the same time, before Camilo receded and let Andrew begin, "you seem to be alright. Somewhat. You should really rest and tell me how you feel in the morning. It- you could have a concussion."

"Good news, then." Camilo deadpanned. "I think I'll be fine, but… you did something very brave, but very dumb. You cut your face with the tail of the arrow, it was too close to your face. Looks like it'll leave a scar. I can… help, but it'll hurt."

"Great. _Just_ _great_. You said it wasn't so hard to get the hang of shooting, and now turns out I almost ripped my eye out. My arm hurts. And that thing didn't even get to the monster" Andrew groaned, standing up in the small cave. Camilo could see, against the yellow of the fire, his dark skin bright with sweat, either from the effort of carrying Kalenis, or from the fear he had experienced so far.

"Thanks for that, either way. You saved me by almost losing your eye and your arm." Camilo lowered his head in gratitude, "you want to learn how to shoot an arrow? You'd be a lot of help to me and you wouldn't be in much danger, since you'd be far from the fight… y'know? you don't have to decide yet. We got a long trip ahead. Let's try that fruit."

"Wait. Maybe we should wait until Kalenis wakes up." Andrew said, looking at Kalenis, it seemed he was worried, "I mean, we still don't know if that has to be cooked or… well, I guess I am hungry but… it can, I can wait a bit."

"Alright." Camilo also looked at Kalenis, but his eyes soon trailed off to Andrew once again. "Want me to sew that for you? You'll get a cool scar in a couple of weeks."

"I guess I don't want it to get infected." Andrew replied, already wincing from the future pain. He remembered, then, who offered the process, and took a step back, "Wait. You're not going to use a sewing needle, right?"

"By the Ancients, man, I'm not an animal. I've been taking a lot of classes in everything I could need. Basic first aid and basic medical care _are_ a couple of the first classes I took." Camilo reached into his bag and buried his hand deep into it. After moving it for a while he took out a small, black box, it as tightly tied down, but it didn't look special. After a few moments of fiddling with it, he pulled out some medical implements "See? I'd rather use this in more serious cases but. Well, I guess a wound in the face is serious. I don't have painkillers or stuff like that, though."

"What do you have in that bag? You've pulled every possible thing we need." Andrew leaned in to see inside the bag, and saw, at least, 20 different things all messily put in place.

"I once lived with a heavily injured man and a tiny little alchemist for, like, 6 years in a mountain. I learned about what baggage you need when you move a lot. In here, for example, I have some clothes, since I assumed that I'd be changing weather a lot. And I got 2 or 3 of each because people avoid you when you smell bad... Then come a few pots for cooking, like 50 metal arrows, custom made- I have to start saving more… I've lost about 6 good ones already- also some sort of grill I made to put the pots on. And- the important stuff. A couple bottles of alcohol, a few- 4 medium bottles of peroxide something- it's good for wounds but it's scarce, so I gotta save it for bigger wounds. Umm…rope. Some sheets so we- well I wouldn't have to sleep on the ground, a pair-"

"Okay, okay I get it, you planned this through when you started. Even so, you have some peculiar stuff. Like that big match you used for the fire."

"Well… I was creative for that; those were some things they'd sell back in my home country for coal, like, for barbeques. Oh, also the bag is custom made with thick treated leather, if the trip is long and gets more dangerous we can- well I can- we can look for a leatherworker and make some light armor… what do you say? Should I get you patched up?"

"Only if you, at least, rub some alcohol on it."

"Your funeral." Camilo said, with a smirk, before getting Andrew to lay down and gather everything he needed.

Camilo took the alcohol out and carefully splashed a bit in the wound in Andrew's face. Andrew yelled, then groaned for a while before calming down, while Camilo cleaned up all the instruments he would use afterwards. He pulled a couple latex gloves that came in the box and gave Andrew a piece of leather from his torn robe so he would chew it while he took care of sewing his cheekbone.

Camilo had done it a couple of times before with animal meats, to have the same texture and get some practice. Animal meat had the particular characteristic of not moving, which was something that Andrew was having problems putting into practice. His wound was around four or five centimeters below the eye, but it was around three centimeters long.

Even with all the squirming and Andrew's 'Not'-crying, Camilo managed to close the wound without making mistakes or unnecessary stitches, needing only a few to close it. Andrew had a couple tears running down his face and, even though he was a doctor, and had had other wounds sewn together, he had never had something so close to his eyes, much less in his face. This had been an ordeal that felt like a lifetime, even though it lasted less than 15 minutes.

"You're really tough, y'know?" Camilo said, taking the gloves off and cleaning off some of his sweat from trying to hold Andrew down, "It hurts like hell being so close to the eye and you didn't pass out."

"Bite me." Andrew spat at him, still laying down in the cold floor. He took his glove off and touched the stitches softly, wincing before cleaning his tears.

"heh, crybaby." Camilo put away the instruments after cleaning them with a cloth soaked in alcohol, and threw the needle away. "I don't know you, but this day has been long as hell. I'll go out to get a bit more wood, but we should rest some. Wanna take turns so we don't get ambushed?"

"I think that's good." Andrew was having bad memories of his time in the army creeping up on him, _at least there's no mud in the ground this time_ , he thought, "You should rest first, you got beat up pretty bad, and you've done nothing but run around all day."

"I'll take you up on that." Camilo said, as he tried to cover himself a bit more, and he walked out of the small cave. "Don't go out please, I'll be back, I promise."

"you better be back." Andrew threatened, "if you feel too bad, don't lay down, sit for a while, put some ice in your head, and when you feel better, move again. Don't overdo it."

"Overdoing is my middle name, you know?" Camilo said as he disappeared from view.

It took Camilo a while to come back with some wood. Once back, he was checked again by Andrew before he let him do anything in the cave. It seemed he was mostly bruised, rather than damaged in a worrying way, so Andrew let him be. Camilo taught Andrew a couple things to check while he slept, and told him how to keep the fire going. Camilo took a few sheets out of the bag, and sat with his back to the wall of the cave, enveloping himself with the sheets, apparently willing to sleep sitting down.

His bow was next to him, as well as a few arrows. But he gave Andrew the machete, 'if you need it', he said. It looked like Camilo took seconds to fall asleep, since Andrew didn't see him move much from then on. Andrew looked at the fire and Kalenis while he waited for anything to happen. A dark thought approached his mind and he shook his head to eliminate it. he disliked being alone with his thoughts, but there wasn't much choice for him right now.

Around the second hour in, bored out of his mind, Andrew started fiddling with his phone. His battery was very low, at around 20%, despite not having used it a lot. One of the young nurses had told him that, if the cellphone was 'looking for signal', the battery would last way less, even if it wasn't used at all. It seemed like that had happened, since his phone had the little 'Emergency calls only' message.

He gave it a try, dialing 911, but his phone never went into a busy tone. The call simply didn't happen. He decided, against better judgement, to make a small video of what was around him. In his video, he recorded the small cave they were in, Kalenis' body and then he walked outside the tent.

"so," he started, around 2 minutes into his video, "the other guy, Camilo, he was asleep and I didn't wanna wake him. The giant bird was injured while getting us food, it looks like. And _that_ over there," Andrew pointed to the Beast's corpse in the video, "that's the thing that did _this_ to me," He pointed the camera at him and made a point of showing his face wound, "I don't know where we are, other than this isn't earth. I will try, but I don't have lots of hopes for survival… I guess I'm afraid of what's going on. I didn't think a stupid dare would take me here. Anyways, I'm running out of power, so… Good bye to anyone that sees this video. Hope I made it back to Earth."

Andrew waited for the video to be saved, and then turned his phone off. He wouldn't be using it in the near future, since it seemed to be useful only as a paperweight. A pretty useless paperweight, considering they didn't have any paper. As we walked inside, he saw Camilo shift for the first time in the last couple hours, and thought he may have been too loud, so he walked slowly, put some more wood on the fire, and sat down once again.

Camilo was good at pretending, and good at perceiving what was going on around. He was asleep until he heard Andrew talking outside the cave, and had caught most of the conversation, with some purpose, but still hurt, he turned to sleep once more for a few more hours.

Andrew had gone to sleep after Camilo woke up. They took a few moments to talk and discuss if anything had happened, but no more than that. Andrew made a point of avoiding any mention of his video, and Camilo sensed it was a personal way of dealing with things. Both left it at that, and Camilo arranged things to make a somewhat comfortable bed for Andrew. Once Andrew was laying down, not yet asleep, Camilo went out to pee.

For the few moments he was alone, Andrew's mind wandered, despite trying to keep it focused on anything else. He worried about his mother's health, and remember his deadbeat dad. _Dad… how will he act when he finds out I disappeared…_

Andrew felt lonely with his thoughts, he remembered the call he made a couple of hours earlier. Had it been hours, or days now? He felt exhausted as well and wasn't paying enough mind to the time they had been in this new world.

"He'll find out in months. I don't even call him that often" he mumbled to the fire. While he tried to rearrange the branches, trying to heat the cave a bit more for his comfort.

"Who will?" Andrew squealed when he heard the voice coming from his side. Kalenis had opened his eyes but didn't move from its place "what happened?"

"You're okay? Hey! Camilo! Kalenis woke up!" Andrew shifted in the sheets before Camilo Rambo'd his way into the cave, ready to start a war. Once he saw everything was in order, he winced from his pain. "are _you_ okay?"

"No…" Camilo groaned, his gut hurt, but at least nothing was broken, "How do you feel, birdy?"

"Like I almost die," Kalenis lifted himself with his wings and sat down, he put his back against the cold stone of the cave. "although the cold helps. I wish to know, where are we, and what happened to the Kalmeyar?" Kalenis eyes seemed to pierce both Andrew and Camilo as she asked.

"Andrew killed it." Camilo said, piercing Kalenis with his stare as well, but he didn't expect his reaction.

"What?" Kalenis was still calm, but it seemed the information hadn't processed entirely.

"Wait, no!" Andrew yelled too, "I didn't kill it!"

"I'd be dead if you hadn't shot that arrow" Camilo added, and he was being sincere, it showed the experience had made him more humble about his own skills.

"But-"

"How did you manage?" Kalenis asked, seemingly interested, and unsure of what had happened, "A human has no strength to tear apart its armor. Not in the cold of the mountain."

"We didn't tear it. I just stabbed it in his gut a bunch of times. If _that_ didn't work I would have run away." Camilo took one of the fruits that Kalenis had brought with him "Thanks for the fruits, though. Also, I owe you an apology."

"You killed it." It seemed that Kalenis had finally accepted that this was true, "No human has killed anything here before. What are you?"

"I'm a lost traveler, with my faithful shrink by my side" Camilo put his arm around Andrew's neck and shook him a couple of times.

"Hey, don't call me that, I'm a professional."

"And my savior, trust me, I'll repay you as soon as I can."

"Then… You asked me before about another creature here. What was it?" Kalenis asked, now moving a bit more, and Camilo shot a quick glance at his back. Somehow, maybe because of the angle, the wound seemed smaller now.

"Oh right, the big guy that almost eats me." Andrew added, shuddering at the memory.

"Stop whining Andrew, it didn't have a mouth… Only a huge hand, a tentacle, and a puddle in the middle of its face. It was really big, but he was easier than this brute."

"You killed the Abernas too?" Although it, somehow, seemed like Kalenis was surprised, his soft voice didn't seem to increase or lower volume. It was odd, to say the least.

"I don't know. Does it regenerate?"

"Well… no, did the tentacle move? Was he lying on top of his support?"

"If its support is a giant-ass bone, then no. I broke that trying to make it fall. Then shot his eye-puddle a few times."

Kalenis let his beak wide open. Every human that came through the forest was doomed to die by the Kalmeyar. The ones that came through the mountain usually ran away from the Abernas, some made it outside the cave, but the rest were dissolved by the toxic slime that surrounded the tentacle. These two humans had made something impossible for their species, not once, but twice, and lived to tell the tale.

True, this hadn't come without any price. Kalenis saw that they had suffered injuries in both occasions. Camilo had worse wounds than Andrew, but both were hurt. It seemed to Kalenis that Camilo had taken the brunt of the damage, and that he was the more experienced of the couple. It was difficult to discern anything more, since he had no dealings with humans very often.

"Hey Kalenis, breathe." Andrew said, seeing Kalenis breathing a bit faster, "It wasn't as easy as he claims it. He's just like that. Although, Camilo." He paused; he looked at him for a second and kept going afterwards "Look. Seeing all that's happened so far, I feel like a fool for not believing you before. I'm really sorry about that. If we have time- If you'd like, would you please tell me the rest of the story?"

"Sure. But let me get these ready to eat. It's been a few hours and you didn't have lunch."

"Wait. Human. You… I am sorry about what I did before." Kalenis said, looking straight at Camilo.

"About what?"

"That time I almost pierce you with my claws."

"Oh, don't sweat it, you just wanted to show off. _I_ should be the one apologizing. You almost die getting food for us and I was thinking you wanted to poison us."

"About that—"

"You overgrown dove!" Camilo rushed back with the knife in his hand and put it in front of his gut.

"Wait." Again, Kalenis seemed alarmed, but his tone of voice didn't seem to change at all. He used his claws to put some distance between him and Camilo "I was not going to poison you. I just held information about the fruit. It is not as poisonous as I may have made it sound."

"Why in the ever-loving fuck would you lie about a fucking fruit?!" Camilo was exasperated, and was still threatening to Kalenis. Andrew was a bit taken aback for this. Considering how hurt it seemed that Camilo was, he was still very impulsive and violent. He thought he didn't want to be on the wrong side of that anger.

"Because every human that comes here eats them, and they stay around long enough to get killed by the Kalmeyar. That only makes it more territorial and harder for everybody else to gather their own food."

"Then tell the humans to eat and leave or a fucking _monster_ will eat them alive!"

"Humans throw rocks at me when I approach." Kalenis explained more calmly, but his tone quickly grew grim, slower, still with no change in volume, "I have seen so many humans run into the Kalmeyar from running away from me. That makes me their killer. I am a Celestial, and a Defender, I do not kill unless I have to."

"Oh, for Kiltha's sake! Andrew! Don't you have something—" Camilo turns around in his frustration to find Andrew eating the spikes of the fruit while holding the rest of it over the fire. He felt his blood pressure spike for a second, "Have you _never_ eaten by a _fire_ before?! Gimme that!" Camilo grabs the meat of the fruit and runs an arrow through it, then pins the arrow in the ground, slightly tilted towards the fire. "I give up."

Camilo leaves the cave and starts grunting at nothing in the mountain. The cold wind cut against him like razors, but he had to let it go somehow.

"It seems you have aggression inside of you." Kalenis noted, and Camilo jumped back by instinct, before crouching into the floor, grabbing his stomach from the pain. "and you are injured. Rest should be your priority."

"I got things to do. It's Andrew's turn to rest too, so I'll watch over him." Camilo sized Kalenis up, trying to get her true intentions.

"it seems to me that your companion, Andrew is not very helpful during fights. Is he?"

"should be obvious he's an amateur." Camilo mentioned after a quick glance at the cave, where Andrew seemed to be eating the fruit, focused on what was going on inside, not with both of them. Of course, he took a couple glances here and there to make sure they were still close.

"if he worries you," Kalenis said, looking over the dead body of the Kalmeyar, it seemed he had a tinge of nostalgia, but Camilo couldn't define why he got that sense, "you can make some armor out of the Kalmeyar's skin. It should not be a difficult task to accomplish."

Camilo glared at the giant bird. He had the sense there was more going on than he let out, but, at a disadvantage due to lack of information, he had to drop the subject.

"I'd like some more cover than just leather. Do you know what to do?"

"I lack the extremities to handle such tasks, but some other creatures treat the Kalmeyar skin to accommodate to their bodies. I have seen they submerge it in hot water so that they can adjust it. the Kalmeyar skin is very hard-"

"I noticed, yes."

"-and," It seemed Kalenis was unfazed by Camilo's interruption, "a creature such as yourself, which seems to have some knowledge, could take advantage of it to make a better kind of armor. Would it not be the case?"

"I'd need thread…" Camilo said, looking over the Kalmeyar's corpse. He was already making a couple mental calculations as to how much material and what he could do, "I should have enough. But… you said you're a defender? Is it alright if I just brutalize the body of a creature in the forest you live?"

"I do not live here. And it would bother me more to let his shell go to waste, as none of the creatures that use it can climb this mountain."

"Andrew!" Camilo yelled, still looking at Kalenis, before he turned to Andrew. "Can you get me the knife? Just chuck it this way! For the Gods sakes, would you chew your food!?"

Andrew did as requested, and threw the small knife at Camilo, it landed surprisingly close to Camilo's position, which showed off Andrew's upper torso's strength. With Kalenis shadowing him – she gave him barely enough room to move around – and his instructions, Camilo started his attempt at skinning an unknown creature.

It took Camilo almost an hour to cut the bone, skin and guts, and _another_ one to clean all the meat stuck to it. by the time he was done, he saw Andrew was already fast asleep. Just now, Camilo realized: it was still dusk, even though he was sure he had slept a few hours.

"Hey, Big Bird," He said, "how long does dusk last in this world?"

"It depends on your standard. How do you measure time?"

"uh, hours? Minutes? You know what those are?"

"I do, I have been in worlds where they use those. It should last for another… seven to eight more hours. You could finish this process and I would recommend leaving while dusk still gives you light. Tomorrow, in the morning, a storm will hit this area."

"Andrew needs to sleep. I need some rest too. Will we get the brunt of it if we leave early in the morning?"

"perhaps you will, perhaps not." Kalenis warned.

"Alright. I think we can make a quick march if I'm feeling a bit better. I don't think we'll get far with my current state… you ever been to a world Called Yi-Intakael?"

"I have, once, many hundreds of years ago, at least to my count. Each world's time may be faster or slower, so it may have been less in it. A dark figure loomed over the throne." Camilo shuddered at the mention, "Are you well?"

"I am." Camilo said, matter of fact, killing any attempt of further conversation about it. Kalenis sensed a scar on this man's mind, regarding the darkness he mentioned.

Kalenis joined Andrew in the cave, and, in time, both were asleep in it as Camilo watched over them. As he did, he was also working the material according to Kalenis' instructions. He made a second fire, a bit bigger, outside the cave. He also grabbed one of the pots in his bag to melt snow and boil it so he could submerge the material in it. It took _hours_. And Camilo lost lots of material as he tried to make it change shape and adjust to the forms he needed.

The material felt soft, but Camilo dropped it on some snow as he put more in the pots and saw it harden. He could use this to temper it, and make it – perhaps – more resistant. He ran a couple of trials on small pieces here and there. He also tied them down in a branch and tried to cur them with his knife, his machete, and finally, after a while of trying, hitting it with his arrows.

It seemed the material would resist enough to keep someone safe from most threats you could find in a standard world: animals, spiky plants, maybe bandits. But it did something to be wished, since Camilo wanted it to be more subtle, perhaps darker, so they could have an easier time hiding, as it stood out in it's natural, clear gray color. Without anything to do about it, he kept making more pieces and sewing them together to make something resembling armor.

It wasn't pretty.

Camilo wasn't going for pretty, but this certainly wasn't what he wanted.

"This is ugly as fuck." He said to the world around him. Luckily, no one heard him.

He had worked for most of the night, which showed. His seams were chunky, uneven, but they worked for what he needed them to. He could go on with the small sets of armor he had made, but he did want an actual leatherworker to maybe improve the design and help where he lacked.

He had made one full set of armor that included shoulder pads, vambraces, a chest piece, cover for the arms, legs and shins. However, there hadn't been enough material for him. to be honest, there was enough material for one or the other. But he wanted to have Andrew wear the full armor set. He knew he would eventually get back to what he was like before, and he could defend himself with lighter armor. Andrew was new to all of this, and he felt in obligation to help him, having dragged him here.

The second set had only vambraces, a small bit of cover for the shoulders and neck area, and covers for his legs and shins. There hadn't been enough to make a chest piece, but with all the pain he had right now, he didn't want to have extra weight rubbing on his sore chest and gut.

The sun had started to rise in the horizon, as it was lighter now, but there were black clouds all around. Camilo wore his armor pieces, tying them down and moving around a bit in them, making sure they were comfortable, before picking up the other pieces and walking to the cave. The plan was to have Andrew wear this, walk to the base of the mountain, and then walk to the portals in the distance. It seemed they would be a month or more away from where they were, but it had to begin somewhere.

He wondered if Kalenis would come with them. It seemed the bird was interested in them, but he didn't know if curiosity would make it join them as a new – possible, perhaps in time – friend in their trip.

Andrew was curled in a ball next to the fire. _He has to feel messed up, all of this happened in a moment._ Camilo congratulated him on sleeping with all that stress on top of him.


	7. Chapter 7

Andrew woke up in what seemed to be the middle of the night. He was very cold, even with the fire in front of him. He felt weird, apparently, he had slept for longer than used to, so his head was still foggy, and his eyes struggled to stay open. When his eyes adjusted, he saw Camilo on the opposite side of the cave, without his shirt. Andrew saw a couple scars here and there, with his current knowledge of what Camilo did, he guessed it was because of some sort of training.

Andrew looked outside, after checking Camilo. Kalenis was looking at the remains of the Kalmeyar and walked around it slowly. He didn't mind him and, after fiddling a bit in his sleepy stupor, took off his left glove. _This crap must have broken_ , was the first thing that came to mind. It was pitch dark outside, but the clock marked 6 o'clock, in the morning, no less. It was too early for it to be so dark. Camilo turned around and greeted him, he had dark stains in his chest, possibly, where the Kalmeyar had smacked him the day before.

"Good—" he looked towards the outside and returned to Andrew "—Night, apparently. You slept like a log." His weird smile was there, even in this weird situation, as if he enjoyed it.

Andrew saw Camilo better. Back on earth, he used baggy clothing, or shirts with patterns that didn't show a lot of his figure, but for such a young, thin man, Camilo had a lot of muscle. He was well defined, and it showed the effort he had put into preparing for this trip. Andrew felt bad about himself, again, looking as his beer belly.

"How long have I slept?" he groaned, getting the sheets off of him, "It should be night in a few hours, it's still early."

"You're right, it's early. I'd say around 6 or 7 a.m. you slept almost a whole day."

"What the hell?! What do you mean a.m.?"

"As in 6 in the morning? I thought I mentioned time would be weird. It went dark about 4 hours ago. Dusk lasted for ever, but night has been short so far."

"You know what?" Andrew said, defeated, "I'll believe anything you say from now on. This is just too weird for me. I'm too tired to argue. God, why am I so tired?"

"To be honest, it's been a wild ride: we crossed an inter-dimensional gate, you learned of the existence of new worlds, almost die, twice, cut your face and hurt your arm with a bow, then, you talked to a giant bird and ate enough for three meals in one sitting."

Andrew was surprised, if true, this had been such an emotional journey, that it had affected even his perception of things. And it had just begun! He didn't believe he would be able to stand much more of it, and who knew how long would it take them to go back into his own world. It felt weird to even think about it as his own, and not just the one.

"I'm having trouble adjusting to it. Can you imagine if a physicist were to find out about this? It would be the rage. How many scientists would kill to be here?"

"It's better if they don't." Camilo's smile died off slowly, as he grabbed his shirt to cover himself again.

"How can you say that?! Think of all the progress 'we' as humans could bring to our world. To the rest of them."

"In 'my' world. We-" Camilo said between grunts as he put his shirt on, his wounds screaming at him at each movement, "'We' as 'humans' have made a lot of damage, in particular, to Yi-intakael. We brought a dark age that lasted hundreds of years, If Parminea was right, and she usually was. I wasn't the first to go to Yi-intakael."

"I thought you said you were summoned there"

"I was. It's not the only way in." Camilo's arm slipped through the sleeve and he grunted once more, "Most humans I met remember falling before they got there. As it seems to be common with us 'Shokans'."

"you what?"

"a term derived from a few Japanese and Orc terms. Summoned people, basically." Camilo finished dressing, and turned to face Andrew, "'People' will get scared, and will fight what they don't understand. There are races that can wipe out cities by themselves. One 'person' is less likely to do that. For that reason, these things should be kept secret."

"You have a point, but you can't deny that…" Andrew's voice died off as he tried to find any advantage he could to prove his point. "I guess you're right. I'll go out for a sec, I guess."

Andrew braced himself and got out of the cave, covering himself. The darkness was a new thing to him. A 'natural' world, without any kind of lightning coming from any town nearby, was darker than he could imagine. If it wasn't because of the fires around, he would be blind. He walked towards the restless Kalenis, and the cold shook him to the ground as soon as he stepped out, finally waking him up. Kalenis saw him approach and gave him something resembling a smile, maybe a real smile, but his beak made his expressions look weird to Andrew. He stopped pacing around the remains of the Kalmeyar, and waited for Andrew to reach him.

"How do you feel, human?" He asked, it seemed Kalenis was very curious.

"Tired." Andrew groaned, "I'm Andrew by the way; I don't think I've told you my name."

"'Andrew'" Kalenis repeated while looking at him. "Nice to officially meet you. Is the cold wind treating you well?"

"I prefer tropical weather. How is your wound?"

"It is healing. The wind and the cold heal Celestials. Slowly but surely, by the morning I will have new feathers and no more wounds." He turned for Andrew to see the remains of the wound, which was mostly closed by now.

"About that… you know what an 'hour' is? I'm really confused about time here."

"I have heard humans talk about hours. I have some experience with it, but I do not measure them with great precision."

"Oh, okay. How do you know when will the morning come?"

"The light will come back by then. That is how… Human, Andrew, I have been wondering. How do you and your companion understand me, a Celestial, and the Kalmeyar, a Groundbound?"

"Well, you both speak English, so…"

"En-glish. Is that the name for your language?"

"It is, you have a slightly northern accent. That beast sounded as a whisper from where I was, so I don't know if he had an accent"

"You say weird words, Andrew." It seemed Kalenis was happy with the exchange, but his tone didn't change, "Language is expressed through them between you two. But your bodies also speak, even when you do not hear them. We speak with our elements, as such, Celestial voices are carried by the winds, fickle but everlasting, Groundbound voices rumble the world, they are slow, but firm, loud yet tender."

"I… I just understand you; I hear your voice coming from you. Not from the wind… maybe the portal did something to us?"

"You could think that. What do you know of them?"

"Close to nothing. Camilo can feel them, but I don't see or hear, or feel them. He says it's magic. But, well, with all I've seen today, it wouldn't be a crazy thought."

"Magic. I do not know that word. Is it the life inside your companion's body? The one he tied there?"

"He wrote about making a rune to keep his magic from running out. Maybe it's that."

"Do you believe in his words?"

"I don't know what to think anymore." Andrew said, looking to the distance, "A few hours ago, well, before we got here, I thought he was making all this up. That he was crazy. He said he was killing a god before coming back to our world"

"God." He repeated with a cracking voice.

"Oh, those are—"

"That is what some humans called me when I was a hatchling lost in your world."

"You're what!? How long ago was that?"

"I would not know, your cycles are shorter, they do not repeat, like ours do."

"You don't die?"

"We do. But we start anew; we do not repeat mistakes from previous cycles. I can only wonder what Kalmeyar will learn from this" Kalenis walked around the remains, he kept seeing into them, as if they told him a story he couldn't read. "Hopefully, he will learn to respect humans."

"Should we bury him? I mean, our dead don't come back and we bury them, so that beasts won't eat them or sully their corpses."

"That is for both of you to decide. You were the ones that ended him."

"Oh… w- well, it was him or us- I mean, if we could-"

"I am not judging, Andrew. It is what happened, and there is no changing it now. It still… it saddens me, somehow."

"Were you friends?"

"'Friend' is not something we are, but we have known each other… from many cycles before he fell into… this"

"Then Camilo and I leave to you the choice of what to do with him. I don't think he'll mind" Andrew reached out to Kalenis' back, rubbing it slightly with a smile "I think this could be a good time to know each other once more, to start again, so to speak"

"It could be. Thanks for this Andrew, you brought me the words I needed to make my mind. I will wait for Kalmeyar, I will give him another chance, and this time I will not leave him alone."

"Hey, there's something bothering me since Camilo pointed it out. What did you do with the eggs I put in front of you earlier this day?"

"Oh, those eggs. I let them burrow into the ground, they are probably halfway to the center of the world, a shame you could only save eight of them"

"So, you knew they weren't all we found."

"I assumed that. Those eggs are the roots of change, they pop above the ground in the hundreds, most of them crack and vanish before reaching age to dig, I guess you thought about eating them, but you would have gone empty handed"

"You're quite smart, knowing all that."

"It is one of the few unchanging things of this world"

Andrew spent a while talking with Kalenis, they spoke about the unknown, about the coming storm, and about their feats, Kalenis did most of that talk, but Andrew was entertained with it. He returned to the cave when the cold threatened to crush his bones, leaving Kalenis to mourn his friend in silence.

Andrew grabbed the same arrow he left by his crude bed and ran it through another one of the fruits. He took all of its spikes and then started roasting it with the fire. The spikes didn't have much flavor, although they melted in the mouth and gave him a little rush of energy in each byte, he worried they would be narcotic, but the rush was too good in the cold to let it pass.

"Get up"

"What do you want now Camilo?" Andrew stood up and saw Camilo coming with a thick fabric in his arm, he took his left arm and put it on top, the fabric was big enough to cover his entire arm, where he began to tie it down "is that all you want?"

"Hold still, I'll put some on your neck and your legs. It should be enough to cover you in the right places."

"Where did you even get that? It feels like a thick cotton fabric."

"This is from the skin of that thing. While you slept, I was trying to figure out how to treat it."

"And you made it softer. Why? Is this some sort of armor? That doesn't look like it will hold more than a breeze away."

"You'll see. Remember how this is tied, if you take them off and need them later and I'm away you'll have to put them on by yourself"

"Why would you be away? There- stop- stop pulling it! You're going to choke me. Just leave it like that."

"I don't know, maybe I went to the bathroom and you found a ninja trying to rob you. No, no, not that loose. Tighten it more! If you leave it that loose it'll be the same as if you don't have it on." Camilo let go of the lace on Andrew's neck piece, he didn't let him tighten it and his hands were in the way.

"What is even the point? This feels like cotton. It's not like it will magically stop anything—" right in the middle of his neck he felt a stinging pain, Camilo had stabbed his neck with blinding speed and short movements, there was no blood, at least it didn't feel like that, and after Andrew stumbled back and put his hand on his wound, somehow, he found there was nothing, only a slight scratch on the fabric "What the fuck is your problem Camilo?!"

"What? You wouldn't believe me if I said it could stop a knife or a blade. So, there you see it. Now tighten it up. It will suck up most of the force."

"You are a monster Camilo, you could have killed me!"

"No doubt about it. I put enough 'oomph' in it to drive it all the way through your neck. And what? You got probably the same as a light push in it. You're not even having trouble breathing"

 _He needs better communication skills_ , crossed his mind but when he thought about it, he wouldn't take the time to explain something simple if he could just show it, although it was getting bothersome, having to guess what did he want, what was he doing. Andrew made a frown and let him work in silence, tying it as he needed.

"are you done?" he smelled himself and frowned "God, I smell like a bull"

"Oh yeah you do, you better get used to that."

Camilo stepped back and started putting his own armor, this was slightly smaller, it covered his forearms and his own neck, but he had no chest piece to cover himself, he started putting the leg and thigh pieces, tying them up in seconds, he crouched a couple of times to test them and turned to Andrew, who was having trouble with the final parts, as he tried to wear the coat over the armor.

"Let me help."

"I can do this Camilo. No need to go stabbing me again" Andrew turned around and kept trying to tie them up. The laces were thick and difficult to handle but they were placed in easy spots to tie, after fondling them a bit, Andrew was able to tie them as he wanted to "tight enough for you?"

"Sure. Sorry about that. But you still won't believe anything I tell you"

"Okay fine, but if you take your time explaining you don't have to try and do this shit. Camilo, this is incredibly stressful. I don't need to be afraid of you when I'm afraid of everything else. Please talk to me and I'll do my best to believe you"

"Okay, I'll try to explain things from now on, okay?"

"Also. Um… can you—will you teach me archery?"

"If you want, I mean, I said I would teach you yesterday. But it would be better if you also learn how to fight body to body"

"Close quarters."

"What?"

"That's the word, close quarters fighting is when you go punching people, or stuff like that, close to the opponent"

"I didn't know that."

"I was in the army when I was younger, just a year though; they teach you close quarters combat."

"But you have lousy reflexes, you suck, sorry about that"

"It was over 20 years ago. And _I_ don't go fighting every day. You are quite a freak in that way, you can keep up with those monsters and Kalenis, and the monsters were unknown things."

"That comes with the years, the most important is usually to watch the opponent, there was the giant bone in the… thing—"

"Abernas"

"Right, the giant bone supported it, so you could try and break that to make it fall. If it doesn't work, you go for the next thing that will make them fall, the only leg it had. That is if the opponent is bigger than you. Then we got the Kalmeyar. It had magic, and something that felt like a pointed tail. But it wasn't visible, so you have to study, what would you have thought of first, facing an invisible weapon?"

"Shape, I think. Then if it's sharp, or has an edge, or if it's something like a hammer, then try and avoid it"

"Wow, I have to teach you less than I thought… but you're still missing important things. I tend to think in a pessimist way. If I don't see it, it's poisonous, so I better not touch it. Then, what about reach? Where can it hit? Does it surround its body? Can it shoot things? All that, you have to think, it takes a while—you don't just find all that out in one fight. But you learn to get the important details in as little time as you can"

"Then what? You'll teach me all that in a couple of days? I don't think we can do that"

"Of course not, but it can be of help on the long run. We'll take a bit of time when we get to warm land to teach you about archery. Then you'll practice with trees, and when you get the hang of it, we'll go to animals, but it will be in time. It should take us about a month to reach the portals, so we have time."

"A month!?" Andrew let himself fall to the ground, he thought it would be shorter, every trip he had seen was short, then he realized, Camilo said the portals were a few hundred miles away, they had lost a few days in the cave and they had a lot more walking to do "I'm going to die before we get there" there were tears showing in his eyes.

"C'mon Andrew, don't let yourself get down for that." Camilo crouched next to him, cleaning his tears, "It's bad for you. Besides, we'll be busy, and it's a month in our time. It will be far less with this crazy time once we get used to it."

Andrew resigned himself. He wanted to go home as fast as he could, but if portals were that far away from each other in every world, it would take him years to come back, if he could even come back. Camilo took the bag and put it on his shoulders. Only then, Andrew realized that Camilo's 'armor' barely even covered him. It was covering his legs but not his knees, he had nothing on his chest, and his neck and forearms were covered by it. It was a big contrast to him, he was covered everywhere but his head and his crotch.

"Hey Camilo. You didn't have enough to make yourself more armor?"

"Well… I wasted a lot of this trying to figure out how could I mold it to pieces I wanted. So, it got reduced to pretty much what you and I are wearing—oh you're worried—no, relax, I tend to dodge everything so I don't actually wear full body armor, I gave all that to you, because I didn't know if you could. We'll fix that on the way to the portals. You should be a somewhat decent archer and fighter by then."

"Gee, thanks for that"

"Oh please, you don't think you'll be able to fend off anything in just a moth"

"I'm a fast learner"

"And I will teach you, but you won't have real fighting experience unless you fight, which is not happening any time soon, let's go, Kalenis should be done soon, he'll be our guide to get down from here"

They got out of the cave, it was still dark out, but Camilo made a torch so they could see part of the way. The sun would rise in a few hours, and, if Kalenis was right, the storm would start shortly after that, so they had, at best, 6 hours before the storm hit.

They walked a while in a straight line from the cave, the snow slowed their walking but they forged on, Camilo leading and Andrew shortly behind. They were warmer now since they were moving and there was little wind, but their march was slow, since Camilo was wounded. Camilo talked most of the way, explaining the shape of his bow, how did it work, what care should be taken if they were to use it for fighting, and how different was it from hunting. Andrew tried to keep up with the subject but there was too much to memorize, and walking at the same time didn't help. He wasn't used to walk with this much snow in the way, even in winter he didn't have to walk so much since the sidewalks would be mostly snow-free.

Kalenis guided them, and waited ahead when it grew harder for them to walk because of the steep slope on the mountainside. He flew ahead of them, resting in places they could see to follow him, each time farther away since the sun was rising before they thought it would. Andrew kept the robe tightly shut with his hand while he walked, the cold stung him deeply, and he was growing worried about Camilo. His walking was swift, but he was slightly bent to his right side, and he had a very pronounced limp with his left leg, he approached to him and leaned on his side, easing his walk. Now that he was closer, he heard his ragged breathing.

They walked in silence for the next hours, only saying what they needed, with the wind filling in for them, Kalenis waited patiently before taking off to the next spot once Andrew showed him how bad Camilo was. Andrew could see the concern in Kalenis' face, they were moving slower than anticipated and the sun was already rising, and he kept looking upwards. Andrew was carrying a bit more of Camilo's weight, trying to fasten their paces.

They finally saw the first green vegetation starting to surround them, small clumps of moss growing in the uncovered rock on the side of the crevice they were crossing, it had only room for one of them, so Camilo was sliding slowly behind Andrew, he was trying to hide the amount of effort he put in each step but Andrew already knew he was in bad shape. Once they were out, they kept walking, Camilo pushed Andrew away and tried to walk on his own. He was walking faster, but he still had his limp.

"Look, we can rest if you want. You know that, right?" Andrew said, once he couldn't stand watching Camilo in pain.

"I'm fine"

"The storm will not hit this area with all its might, you can rest, humans. Even if that rest must be short, it is better if you do"

"I said I'm fine. I can keep walking."

"You can barely stand straight. Let's take a break, okay?"

"If we stop for everything, we won't make it to the portals in a month. We keep going."

"The portals will be there in a year or two, you have to rest Camilo. You're all bruised."

"…" Camilo looked at both of them, they were standing their ground and they wouldn't budge an inch if he didn't accept their demands. "Fine. Ten minutes. No more"

"How long will that be?"

"Hum…. Count until 10 thousand. That should be it." Andrew helped Camilo sit down and sat by his side. A cool wind passed by them and Andrew saw many clouds gathering towards the top of the mountain. "In the meantime, how about you tell me more about that time you escaped Elkoala?"

"We don't have time for the whole story again Andrew. We have to move in a couple—"

"It's not the whole story. C'mon, you said you would tell me."

"You have a remarkable memory."

"Hey, I may seem disinterested, but I pay attention when people talk"

"Okay, fine, where did I leave it?"

"You said someone was coming with Elkoala. And you had to clean blah, blah, blah, and the other guys tried to hit you a couple of hours before they got to the camp"

"Ah yeah, I told them to behave like grown-ups, if I'm not mistaken. Shadow ratted me out to the rest. And the one leading the charge was Emotal. Emotal was—you know? Actually, Kalenis looks similar to him, except he had arms embedded into his wings and they were only skin, not feathers. But the shape of the head and the height are almost the same."

"So, he looked like those vampires from the movies, right?"

"Well, bird-like. But almost, he actually couldn't fly, he was… too heavy for that." Camilo seemed to pause before some parts of the story, but Andrew didn't really understand why, "Whatever, he was running at me and jumped to bite my head off. Kind of his signature move. So, I let him get as close as I felt comfortable and grabbed him by the arms when he passed over me, then I just pulled a bit and drove him face first to the ground."

"You- you almost didn't do anything. He pretty much hit himself with all his impulse into the ground"

"You see? That fight was mostly that. I saw them training all the time and I knew all their vices and preferences when they fought. And you thought I couldn't fight them just because I wasn't well fed."

"Okay, yeah, boo hoo, I get it, go on"

"Fine, but you're taking all the fun out of it. Okay so, now Emotal was on the ground, the surprise didn't give him enough time to defend or anything, and he was out cold. Well, for a while, but then the others got really pissed off. Like they were only gonna make a mess and teach me a lesson, but now it was personal. So, anyway…

The camp was silent after Emotal was on the ground, everyone was watching me as I got up and dusted myself. I just looked at him, I felt good. It was great, all of them were kind of waiting until Emotal got up and ripped me apart. I turned to look at them; I stood like in the movies, reached out and said what was boiling in me. Now, keep in mind this happened a while ago, so I don't have a lot of the details. The story may not make a lot of sense, but I remember what I said.

\- Bring it motherfuckers!

Well, I tried saying it, but it came as a lung-tearing roar. It was the loudest I had been in years and it felt _awesome!_

The next one to come at me was Felanor, the ripped elf, he put his hand on his forehead and took out his _signature_ foil. It was a thin and beautiful sword, the handle had a green gem, the guard was pure white, and the blade was in a deep black that drove your eyes towards it. It was eerie, since it looked like it had its own will to kill. He ran towards me with it on his left hand.

I didn't see Chira get behind me, but I knew it, it always did that in practice, and it moved slowly so no one could hear it. I stood there, waiting, then Felanor made a funny face and _I_ ran towards him. He stepped back and in that split-second of doubt he had, I kicked him in the nuts. He dropped the foil and I took it to slash behind me, where I made a wide cut in the middle of Chira's chest, the foil started burning in my hand so I had to drop it. I drove my elbow to Felanor's face and my knee to Chira's chest.

Felanor was the next one to fall, Chira was still staring at me as if its eyes could do something, but it and I knew that if it moved, Felanor's foil blade would activate.

He said it once, during training, when he hit Monga on accident, he shouted at her to stay still or the blade would dive into the wound. They waited half an hour before she got up.

Bagur, Monga and Saimer surrounded me while Samier checked Chira for anything else he could do to stop the bleeding. Bagur shouted his orders, they were trying their usual approach: surround, and suppress.

Monga jumped and kind of pushed the air behind her to gain momentum towards me, I jumped and punched in front of me to stop Saimer from holding me with his huge arms, they flinched when my tiny fist found its head, and I spat on him. Monga had panic on her face, she was below him and he expelled a cloud of steam right on her face, the cloud was small, since it was only my saliva on him, but so close, it had to burn. Bagur wasn't behind me as their strategy demanded. He saw me defending and took a different approach.

Now Older One was moving all the non-combatants out of the way, his giant eye unblinking and following every movement I made, I never knew exactly what could he do, his tentacles were all he used to attack, but he couldn't be just that, so him and shadow were the ones that made me nervous.

When the steam faded, Samier was in Bagur's place, Bagur had ran around me in the time the steam lasted and had signaled positions to everyone else.

Shadow came from below me, and his knife almost cuts off my head, if I didn't hear his laughter I would have died. Bagur hadn't given any order, so shadow was, as usual, acting on his own. That gave me a few seconds. He moved between shadows if he wanted, but he turned corporeal to attack. He tried to stab me in the gut, but I rolled with his knife, he wasn't as fast as Felanor and I'd been faster than him, so I took him by the arm, and took my elbow to his face, but he dropped his knife and turned into a shadow again.

I took the knife and ran towards Slime, jumping over Chira, with Bagur screaming commands to everyone. Smoke came between Slime and me and I put the knife ahead of me.

Since he was different, I couldn't stab him with it, but I could stab him at the same time, he could change that for his advantage, but he had to let me through him, or I would have killed him the moment he became tangible.

When I was in front of slime, it tried to envelop me with its body, but I cut a piece of it and threw it to Saimer. Then Samier kicked my legs and I fell to the ground, I was bleeding from my mouth when the steam hit me again, Saimer had been busy trying to heal Monga's burns and didn't see me throw a piece of slime onto him.

Samier was the only one that knew where I was and he grabbed me by my head, trying to crush it, I kicked him in the nose and he let me go. Then I kicked his legs and made him fall before I jumped on his head. He was out cold by the second jump but I jumped a few times more, out of enjoyment and for security.

Smoke had been blown away from the steam and was in the ground squirming, he wouldn't fight anymore that day, so now there were four people down, and the steam receded once more. Monga's scream was loud as shit, she pushed Saimer away and ran to get me, even if Bagur shouted to her to stop. I jumped to the left when she passed me by and ran towards Bagur, He was the only one that seemed ready to stop me so I went and punched him in the gut. He took a step back and punched me in the face, I fell to the ground when Monga slashed at me with her claws, cutting Bagur's chest and throwing him towards the stables.

Monga was disoriented about her own attack and I took the chance to try and cut her, but she had an extreme hearing sense, she turned around and kicked me, so I fell to the ground, the pain made me see black for a while, she came close to me and tried to crush my head with her foot, but she hit shadow in his head when he appeared to cut my neck while I was down, thanks to Kiltha, shadow wasn't a team player, he was knocked out from the sheer amount of strength in Monga's kick.

I got up and stepped away from Monga, but Slime surrounded me, it made a wall with its body, but it got away every time I tried to cut it down, only making a slight opening for her claws to rip me apart. I looked around and took Monga's claw right in my left arm; I grabbed it with my right one and spun her around, spreading Slime all over the place, and finally getting him off my back. But Monga tried to hit me with her free claw

She cut me very deep in the stomach, but that gave me room to drive the knife into her arm, she screamed and I punched her in the face until she stopped moving. It took me like five minutes to bring her down and in the end, my hands had more blood on them than she had on her face.

I turned around and Saimer was right in front of me, his arms in the air, ready to smash me flat, I spat on him again and got my face burned from the steam, but stopped him for long enough for me to get away from him, he was too hard to knock out, and I had no more weapons. Older One made me trip with its tentacles and I remember a heavy blow, then all was black."

"So… this Monga was the one that took out most of them, you barely even did anything"

"I didn't say I took them all down, I just said I fought back. But yeah, if I hadn't made Monga angry, they would have shredded me."

"And this shadow person," Kalenis interjected, "he made a mess of the teamwork in that group, why was he that way?"

"Well, I don't know what to tell you Kalenis, he was the loner in that group, I guess it was because he did only covert missions. I feel better now, we can go on" Camilo stood up and stretched a bit, until he felt a stinging pain on his side. "Ouch… I guess it'll be a while before this stops hurting."

"We should wait a bit more"

"No. You wanted me to stop, but we've been here longer than we agreed, we have to go or the storm will get to us before we're far enough."

"You are not in condition to force yourself, Camilo. You should stay here a while longer, at least until you actually heal"

"It'll take me days for that, and you said the storm would be here after the sun so I'll be fine, let's just go and I'll rest after we get away from here—Stop looking at me like that! I'll be fine, just relax"

"No, you relax, you need to heal."

"You need healing, waiting will help, that is why you need to rest. There is no rush, we can wait here, the worst part of the storm will be up there, we left the dangerous area a while ago."

"Oh please! I'll be fine. Look, it doesn't eve— Ouch!" Camilo's arm falls as soon as he raises it, the stinging pain shooting from it all the way to his head "let's at least walk slowly, a bit. Please?"

"No. we stay, and that's it" Andrew pushes Camilo to the ground, there, the sunlight hits him on his face "besides, it's warm down here, we don't need a fire and Kalenis says we're far enough so we can wait."

"Fine. Whatever" Camilo sat down again and put some snow on his left leg, and patted it a couple of times "Then what do we do while we wait?"

"Well, we already ate… we have time… keep going with your tale"

"You just wanted me to keep talking, don't you?"

"It is a rather interesting story. And it has many fantastic elements"

"Whoa there, there's no fantasy, all that actually happened"

"Surely it did, it is, however, a fantastic tale to be told."

"Sometimes, I just despise you, you know that, right?"

"Just get on with it." Andrew said, seeing it wasn't going anywhere, "You said, back home, that after that it was better to die in the wild than with these people. Why? You just hit them back, they should have just taken revenge, or something"

"Well, if I'm going to be talking non-stop, you can practice with my bow. You see that tree over there? Try to shoot an arrow to its center, aim lower so that they won't go too far. If you heard me on the way, you know how to find your dominant eye."

"What if I fail? Or hit my face again? I don't want to be sewn again"

"Just remember all I told you and you'll be fine. Start with the bow slightly further away from your body, and then take it closer. Don't hold your breath, and pay attention to your body. It will hurt if your stance is wrong. Either way, I'll give you advice while I talk. Your braces should suck up almost all the string force if you hit your arm again."

"I guess…" Andrew said, not entirely convinced.

"Okay, I'll start now, I was saying they would kill me, it should have been like that. But I told you, the emperor was coming, the whole point of the fight was to avoid making a mess, and then the mess happened anyway…

I woke up a few hours later, I think, and it was dark outside, and now, I was in the holding cell. Based on how I woke up, they just dumped me there. I had been bandaged and taken the usual, minimum, care. So, with all the pain in the world, I got up and tried to open the door, slowly, since I didn't know if they were outside.

The door was barred with something outside, I could open it a bit, but more would make noise so I stopped when it was slightly ajar. Light entered from it, so there had to be someone outside.

I started sweating when I heard Elkoala's voice on the other side, and someone else I didn't recognize. My worst nightmare was right in front of that door, so I had everything to lose. Older one and Saimer were there too, and from what I heard, they were explaining themselves. Elkoala seemed pissed off, the other one was amused by the tale. It looked like I woke up just when they got to the camp and demanded an explanation.

\- Tell me why I shouldn't just smash you all to bits for this. - he said, I could hear him grinding his teeth.

\- Oh, please Elkoala, let them continue, look at the poor children, they're so scared, let them speak

\- Yes, Milord. What happened? Why was the camp in such a mess and over half of my squad lying on the ground wh-

\- W-Well, y-you see, sir—

\- Do NOT interrupt me, Saimer. Why was Ohi'lokar spilled all over the camp, trying to collect itself, and Chira was not only injured, but immobile due to Felanor's foil?

\- Oh, don't forget that your little orc soldier came out full of Snapper and Kil'magren's shit

"Wait, what's a Kil'magren?"

"It's a creature that walks on four legs, it has wings on its back but it can't fly too high, about five or six meters in the air, it's covered in scales and its head is similar to a bear, but flat, not with the long nose and that"

"Sounds as one of the Undersoiled, it must have traveled to your world"

"Are you gonna let me finish or do you want to study the species?"

"Go on"

"Thanks, where was I? Oh right, the shit

\- The biggest question I have for both of you is, why is my slave in there? He had explicit orders to clean everything up, and ALL of you had orders to stay out of his way.

\- S-sir, I—

\- Monga thought about having a blindfold race in the camp, about ten minutes before the human finished cleaning. As usual, to make him look bad, but this time, the human voiced his disapproval, Lomenti overheard him, and rallied everyone to 'teach the brat a lesson'

\- h-hey Older one!

\- Oh, shush little…

\- Oh, Saimer, sir.

\- shush, little Saimer, let the Tenagar tell its story

\- Why do you know this, and didn't do anything to stop it?

\- I am in charge of not letting the human escape, and surveying the camp. At the moment, it didn't look as if it would get out of hand. Also, the beasts were tied and sedated from when you left the camp in the morning

\- ohohohoho, your little human pet started a riot over nothing, Elkoala.

\- Just… just go on, Older one

\- The one that started everything was Emotal, from his behavior, he ran for the kill. The human reacted in good time. A moment sooner, or later, and his head would have ended on the ground. But the one who fell was Emotal, then the human preyed on every training failure that they have had before. Monga's anger, Saimer's steam, Lomenti's failure as a team member, and such. His biggest challenges were Ohi'lokar, Samier, and Monga. Otherwise, he developed well during the fight.

\- stop praising the brat! He isn't more than a slave. He should die for what he did.

\- And since when do YOU have a say on MY slave's punishments?

\- I didn't mean it that way sir! It was out of line. I apologize.

\- Whatever, I want to know why, after seeing all of this, you still didn't move in to stop it, Older one

\- It was not in my orders. I stepped in when Saimer went for the kill. Stopping the human and him, finishing the trouble and providing first aid to the injured, except for Chira's special situation. They are all currently in the infirmary, Bagur is cleaning himself

\- so, what are you going to do, Elkoala? I can be quiet about this… humorous display, as a personal amusement, but your troops will probably kill the slave.

\- … You all will receive punishment. A human. A poorly fed human at that, swept the camp with you, you _will_ suffer, that will teach all of you. As for him. I will have him experience the true consequences of his acts as soon as I come back from your castle, your highness.

\- Oh, am I going to miss the execution?

\- It will not be pleasant, your highness, He is to set an example to anyone that would ever find such disgrace out, if our previous actions set the bar, we will probably surpass it with him, I would not force you to see something so disgusting. Shall we part?

\- Of course. At least give the little human a medal, he _did_ put most of your troops to shame

\- Saimer. You will keep an eye on the injured, get Bagur to the infirmary and do NOT let anyone leave the place. Inform them of their fate, and the human's, if even one of them is missing in the morning, I will personally execute him or her. Older one, you will make sure no one kills the human, keep him under watch. I will find some sort of a medal to give him, do not let him know of his fate.

Then, they left, I couldn't see any of them, but now I knew they would kill me. And who knew what Elkoala was planning to do. I guess I knew it was just a matter of time, but hearing them talk about it made me feel afraid. If it was going to be the same, at least I would die on my terms.

I waited until the camp was in absolute silence. About four hours after I woke up. I pushed the door open and Older one was there, watching me…

He could kill me, we both knew that, but he just floated there, even as I moved towards the door. He didn't move until I left the room.

He followed me everywhere in the camp, in silence, without stopping me. I went to the kitchen and took two knives; I tied them to my pants and walked by him. When I got to the camp door, he stood behind me, still watching me.

\- will you stop me? If I go out? - I grabbed one of the knives, my hand was shaking, I had no idea what was he able to do.

\- Those are not my orders.

\- Will you follow me?

\- I am to watch you; I can do so from here. No matter how far you are.

\- Do I have a chance of getting away?

\- if the general was here, no. If you don't kill me first, no. If you kill me and escape, a slight one.

Then... I just started running. I ran as fast as I could, and I kept going after every fall on the way... I thought, if I manage to get to the mountains before the morning, I'll be safe.

I was so tired.

I ran and ran, and the mountains didn't seem to get any closer… what did come closer was something resembling a small farm that was falling apart. The mountains were far away, but the morning was far as well. I kept running to it and entered the barn, and fell exhausted.

 _I'll sleep a couple of hours, I still have the advantage. I can rest for a while_.

I was such an idiot.

I woke up the next morning with a blade to my face, obviously, I jumped back, covered my face with my arms and screamed for a while. When I finished, I opened my eyes and saw a bear there, a tall one, maybe 2.4 meters or so.

"How much is that in feet? I don't use metric system."

"And you ask _now?_ I've been using it all this time. It's about 6"8, maybe more"

"That's big, bigger than Kalenis, is he—"

"Go pick up your arrows, you made me sit, you have to hit that tree before we move again. Stand right or tomorrow all your back will hurt, get the string closer to you now, it's screwing your aim—why are you still standing there? Go, go, go!" Camilo gestured with his hands towards the tree, Andrew was baffled and Kalenis seemed to enjoy the little rant between them "what's so fun big bird?"

"Oh, nothing… you are a weird human. So much lived, so little time, are you sure you do not live in cycles? You seem like an inhabitant of this world."

"I got my own, not interested in this one. Though it's very cute, even the mountain, and most of it was white and dirt."

"Got them, keep talking."

"show me your stance first—raise your elbow, breathe- no, too close to your face, let me—" Camilo stood up behind Andrew and grabbed his hands with difficulty as Andrew's frame was bigger than him, he tried to correct the stance and sat down again "shoot the arrows and tell me if it feels different, don't hold your breath, shoot the last two with your other hand and check how different it is

Okay, so the bear was there, somehow even more scared than I was, but even then, he wasn't shaking, his face showed fear, but his body showed confidence. We didn't move for a while, I looked and I still had the knives, but I tied them so tight that he would have killed me if I tried to get one.

He looked at me for an eternity, then he put his sword down and took a step back, he pointed to the door without saying anything. I just stared, I thought he wanted to show me something, but there was nothing out there.

\- you want me to go? Is this your home? - I guess it surprised him, by how his ears twitched a bit

\- Go, human cub, ya'll get me killed, or worse.

"Wait, wait, wait, that hulking animal was afraid of you?"

"Let me talk! I'm on it

\- I'm malnourished, I am hardly a threat.

\- You're not it, it's da man behind dat - then he pointed to my side, what was left of my shirt had my ribs uncovered and there was Elkoala's emblem, I had actually forgotten he had me branded like three years before Leave or die

\- fuck you! Everything wants to kill me, I'm not afraid of you

\- ya scream like a cub, git out, liar

\- Fine. I just thought you were him. - I argued, like I wanted the last word. I got up and went to the door, he kept our distance all the time, so he was cautious, at least that's what I thought - is there a city nearby? Or you'll have me running around anywhere? - Kiltha's grace, I had a lot of aggression inside me.

He stopped there for a moment, I guess he checked me out, as far as he knew, I was Elkoala's friend, soldier, or at least, pet. After a while I just turned around, and got out of the barn, I walked until I was, or thought I was, out of his property, and started looking everywhere.

I couldn't see the camp, and the cold wind almost screamed that the sun had just risen a while ago, so I hadn't slept as late as I thought, I still had time before he returned. I saw a couple of mountains to my left, so I decided that, at least, the wild would hide me. When I started walking, I saw him again, he was holding a small bag in his hand and he kept his sword in the left one.

\- Dere's a city dat way, 'bout three hours on foot - he was pointing to the right of the mountains, then he threw the bag at my chest, and I held it away out of habit - dere's water dere and a pair of Qlake, eat dem and after dat ya can drink. If dat city is destroyed… just go. I want not'n to do with yours.

\- Thank you. I will find some way of paying you back if I outrun them

I grabbed the small pouch as if my life depended on that, and ran again, my legs hurt me a lot, I was used to it, but it made my strides clumsy, I had no idea what was Qlake, I've never heard of it, so when I was as far as to not see him anymore, I slowed down and reached inside. The Qlake was a small ball, green, smooth, looked like a stone the size of a baseball, I licked it and it tasted like glory.

It was sweet, and had a slight 'green' taste, like the smell of grass, but it was tastier than anything I had eaten since I got there, I tried biting it but it was too hard. I suppose it was something like a jawbreaker, but I ate it in like ten minutes, so it wasn't that dense, and I felt full enough, the sweet gave me a wild rush, I was running and my hands shook, I felt dizzy. Years later I found out that, thank Kiltha, it wasn't a drug, just a packed stimulant, food.

The trip was nothing special, I ran on the plains, so there weren't many animals, and the ones I found were far away. I reached a river, the city was still far, but it was about a mile, it was visible. I had tied what was left of my shirt so people wouldn't see Elkoala's brand, and I thought I should bath in the river, but… I…"

"Is something wrong, human?" Kalenis seemed to worry about something, looking at Camilo. "are you well?"

"It's… what happened next was a difficult thing, I would rather calm down a bit before telling you that."


	8. Chapter 8

"Oh, sure," Andrew sensed something was wrong, by the way Camilo had a thousand-yard stare, as if he was disconnecting from their situation now, "I know it can be hard, just… don't push yourself."

"Don't go all psychological on me now, why haven't you gone to pick your arrows?"

"Jeez, relax da—… I'll be right back" Andrew seemed to catch himself from finishing his first phrase, that he could have bit his own tongue out. He tried to play it off as he walked away muttering.

"Is he alright?" Kalenis bowed down to reach Camilo, trying to not sound as a meddler

"I guess… he's got a few issues, like me. Did he tell you anything about how he came here with me?"

"No, he retained that information, and soon after that, you joined us. He was mumbling when I woke up after the Kalmeyar, it may be the same thing"

"hmm…"

"Camilo! I can't take this one out!" Andrew pulled in front of the tree, he had hit its root with an arrow, not close to the trunk but it still was still deep into the wood.

"I'll be there in a sec! Hey, did you hear what he was mumbling?" Camilo started walking to the tree, with Kalenis on tow.

"Not really, he said something about finding out, but not much more."

"Don't say anything to him about that, please."

Camilo crouched and took out his machete, against his partners complaints, he proceeded to cut the root with all his reduced might, grunting every time he pulled an injured muscle, but recovering the arrow with relative ease. After it, he had to endure Andrew's worried lecture in regards to his own wellbeing and how he shouldn't push himself so hard.

After _that_ , Camilo was the one to give Andrew a lecture, and praise, on his use of the bow so far. He complimented how well his posture was adapting, but also made sure to let him know he would be using the same arrows for a long time, to avoid wasting the rest of the good ones. Once this lecture was over, and the winds started to pick up, they kept walking to the forest.

With Kalenis' guidance, it wasn't that long until they went out of the dangerous zone where the storm would be affecting them, but they could see the dark clouds and snow moving around at the top of the mountain, where they probably were just a few hours before. Now, it was slightly warmer and there wasn't much snow on the way they traveled, so they could move faster.

Every once in a while, after a few hours of walking, when Camilo's bravado couldn't hold his wounds together, Andrew stopped to practice shooting and Camilo stopped to regain his breath. Kalenis brought them food constantly and led them to a small stream, Camilo pulled three canteens and filled them to the brim, putting two in the bag and keeping the last one on himself. After a bit of discussion, with Camilo being a tad more aggressive than usual, they agreed to follow the river, to avoid draining all the canteens, and to keep themselves hydrated.

It felt like the day went by in a moment, the sun had risen just above the mountain for now, and there was still a lot of time until this world's noon, but Andrew's watch claimed it was far past 2 pm, and they started walking at 3 am. As of now, their group had spent almost half of a regular day on earth, and Kalenis seemed unaffected by this passing of time, so was Camilo, but Andrew's eyes were droopy, and he was tired from moving so much. Based on this, Camilo decided to stop walking for the day.

"Leave that bow and rest Andrew," Camilo barked at him, but he quickly corrected himself, "we have to rest, and I guess we can get up when this world turns to noon, and walk until the night, maybe…It's gonna be hard for you to get used to the time flow in other worlds."

"Thank god," he groaned, sitting on the small patch of grass that wasn't covered by snow, "I was afraid you would suggest that we had to walk during the night. How are you holding up?"

"I've had worse…" Camilo began, again disconnecting from what was in front of him, "well, in another body, this one hurts a lot. I knew I would start from nothing, but that Kalmeyar was maybe a bit too much for my second fight. I'll be aching tomorrow, and it hurts pretty bad now."

"How do you heal, human? Do you need heat? Or water?" Kalenis inquired, poised on a rock nearby-

"Well, um… Andrew?" Camilo pleaded him for help, unsure on how to explain that.

"Um… human bodies heal by themselves. We can help them with some vitamins… let's call them compact fruits, which will give the rest of the materials needed for it, but the body does most of it"

"We can also help by sleeping and eating well," Camilo continued, perhaps a bit lost "but it will take us time. Depending on the wounds, it may not heal at all."

"Will you heal these?"

"Of course, I will" Camilo said while he laughed, the enormous bird was actually worried, "relax, your buddy was holding himself back, he trashed me around but he didn't try to kill me. I suppose he actually wanted me to survive and run away, I'm mostly bruised so it will go away in a—well maybe by tomorrow morning it will stop hurting. Your days are different to ours."

"That is good news, your companion Andrew will not be capable of surviving if you stay hurt all the way to the portals. There are many critters that may prove challenging for humans."

"Great, more things to be worried about"

"Relax Andrew, there's still a long way to the portals, and we're mostly alone on this place. It will take us at least three human days to get to the forest, and then it will probably take us longer to find those." Camilo looked over the distance, seeing the green of the trees that stood far away, absently rubbing his stomach and the other wounds in his arms.

"Besides, I have to teach you a lot." He continued, more stating orders than suggesting things "we will take a week before we enter the forest to teach you how to shoot moving targets, and how to fight unarmed and with bladed weapons, if we get to some medieval-like worlds, we can buy a couple of spears and maces so you get used to them. After that, we'll try with axes, polearms, morning stars, knuckles, daggers, fist weapons, magic weapons, phantasm weapons, whips, crossbows, foils, broadswords, two-handed weapons, titanic weapons."

"What the hell?! I'll never learn all that! It's too much! What is even a phantasm weapon?"

"How will you know which weapon is best suited for you? a phantasm weapon is one that has special properties, the most common are the ones that seethe poison on the edge, like the blade or the blunt part of a mace seem to be sweating, somehow, they only work when you are fighting, if not, they are pretty much a simple sword or mace"

"You want to know how will I know a weapon is good for me? By this simple condition: 'am I far enough to not be hit? If so, perfect weapon'" Andrew smiled, satisfied by his smart comments, and shifting

"That leaves you with throwing knives, shuriken, kunai, bombs, boomerangs, bows, crossbows, some varieties of lances, javelins—"

"Oh, come on! How many weapons does anybody need to use?"

"We used a bow and a machete against the Kalmeyar, if that didn't work, we would have _died_ because we didn't have maces. You should, _at least,_ be familiar with how they feel, or you'll just swing it around without much effect"

"It's not _that_ hard." Andrew said, smug.

"Kalenis, you ever used a knife?" Camilo asked, not breaking eye contact with Andrew, almost glaring at him, which made him wince back a bit.

"No, those are human created weapons." Kalenis said, matter of fact, before reading further into what Camilo seemed to mean.

"Can you grab this one? And try to hit me with it?"

"I believe so," Kalenis extended his wing and took the tiny knife between some of his thicker feathers, as if they were fingers, he moved around a bit and gripped it tighter, shaking it a couple times, "I may not have experience, but this is potentially lethal, do you want to go on?"

"Sure, we stop when I say jack-butt, okay?" Andrew snorted from where he was sitting, but Kalenis didn't seem to understand "never mind him, Andrew, pay attention to how Kalenis moves, after this, I'll get the knife and I'll try to hit you with it, we stop when you say, okay Kalenis?"

"Fine by me, I will try not to harm you too much"

Camilo took some distance from Kalenis, with Andrew more or less centered between the two of them. Both nodded in agreement, and Kalenis came at him with an almost blinding speed. Kalenis was fast, to Andrew's eyes, and he kept believing that he wouldn't be able to keep up with his movements if he wanted to attack him.

Camilo stood there, immobile, until the knife's swung, by Kalenis' wing. Even if it was mostly clumsy, and Kalenis didn't have intent to kill, it looked like it went for blood. Camilo simply ducked and moved to the side, taking one step. Kalenis, surprised by his reaction, slashed in any direction he could imagine, diagonally, vertical, horizontal, and Camilo dodged all of them, while he still didn't need to move too much. He took only short steps forward or backwards, depending on the direction of the oncoming attack, but overall, he seemed to be walking in the park, rather than facing a killing bird.

Each strike made Kalenis slightly more frustrated, he was faster than the human, it should give him advantage, and yet, he wasn't getting closer to hitting him. In a moment of frustration, he swung the knife and raised one of his claws to attack as well, after Camilo's dodge, and slashed with it in the opposite direction. With this action, Camilo's expression shifted and jumped to the side readying his own stance to counterattack.

"Forgive me, I got carried away" Kalenis let go of the knife, and took a step away from Camilo.

"I'd say we're done." Camilo walked ahead, and grabbed the knife from the ground, "it's okay; I suppose I would do that too in a real fight."

Now Camilo had the knife, he tossed it around a while and chose to use it with his left hand. He made some room between him and Kalenis, and nodded at him, when Kalenis nodded as well, he stood there for a moment, measuring Kalenis up, analyzing him, and perhaps, by his expression, thinking about something else.

When he ran towards him, Kalenis didn't move, but tensed up, so slightly that Camilo saw it, but Andrew didn't notice. There was still room between them and Kalenis rose his wings to blow him away. In part, based on what Kalenis saw in Camilo, and because he hadn't said Kalenis could not fight back.

Camilo was surprised by the wind, he slowed down, since it would just be a waste of energy to keep running against it. When the wind ceased, he was barely within reach of Kalenis. He had a smug smile, probably based on what they had done before, in their previous bout.

Kalenis took a step back when he saw Camilo throw the knife to his face, but he had to move to the side, dodging the following strike, since Camilo had jumped to grab the knife in the air and slashed downwards at him. Kalenis was being pushed back. Even if he was faster than Camilo he just couldn't predict where would the child take the knife next. If he moved to the right to dodge, Camilo would turn on himself and slash at him from the right, if he jumped back, he would throw the knife at him again, and when he dodged, the cycle would just repeat itself.

"I give in!" Kalenis exclaimed, after the third time Camilo got too close for him to be comfortable in a mock fight. "how do you do that? I am faster than you, I should be."

"You… huff." Camilo gasped for air, exhausted by the bout, "You _are_ faster. I just know what to do with a knife. You see, Andrew?" he said, still gathering his breath, turning to see him.

"That was amazing! You were so close to hit him! And Kalenis was so fast." Andrew was excited, smiling widely at the display of power between the two of them.

"Focus Andrew, who was more likely to win?" Camilo's tone was heavily marked and doused in aggression.

"Oh! I guess you did, since you were so close to hit him."

"But Kalenis wasn't fighting back. At least not completely. He almost gets me, back then, when he used his claw. What about that?"

"It doesn't count; the point was to hit you with the knife"

"The _point,_ Andrew, was for _you_ to see the difference between someone who has no idea what they're doing, and someone that has used a knife before, Kalenis was better because he realized the knife wasn't getting him anywhere, he used the weapon he had most experience with, his claws. _That_ makes him a good fighter, not the fact that he's stronger, faster and bigger than me."

"Do not scold him for that, please," Kalenis intervened, "he seemed to understand the basics of the exercise, he simply lacks the realization of the flow of battle. He can fight some—"

"No! Not now, at least until he's somewhat decent."

"You realize I'm here, right?"

"I know that, Andrew, I'm not dumb." Camilo glared at Andrew, "did I throw the knife to stab Kalenis? Or did I just throw it any way I could?"

"Well… you—I guess—um…"

"You did not see." Kalenis added the information, as if she could see more than what Andrew was going to say.

"No, he didn't." Camilo groaned, frustrated, rubbing his temples, "Pay attention Andrew, this is for _your_ sake, not mine. I threw it, and Kalenis didn't see through it because his lack of experience, in a way I could get it again, I wasn't trying to kill, or even scratch him when I threw it, I just wanted him to dodge, then I would take advantage, he dodged three times, I'm guessing the fourth one wouldn't work."

"I still don't see the need to use every single killing instrument I can get my hands on just to be ready, I mean, sure, if every world is going to be like this one, maybe I'll need to know, but I guess the bow is enough."

"It won't be enough Andrew. That's the point."

"Hey, easy on the tone, Camilo. I'm older than you."

"So, _what_? I'm more experienced than you."

"In being a psychotic Killer?"

"If that's what keeps me and you alive, then yes."

"you're a monster Camilo." Andrew stood up, trying to make some distance.

"You don't fucking get to call me a monster, child."

"Don't call me child."

"or what? You can't do anything here; your psychology books and smarts won't do shit. Or what will you do, bore me to death?"

"fuck off."

"or what, Andrew?"

Silence grew between them, and Kalenis tensed up for a second, sensing imminent danger.

"you wanna threaten someone, Andrew, you do it _right._ "

"What are you doing?"

"Stop me, Andrew, or I'll end up killing your poor little ass."

Camilo put the knife in the ground and came closer to Andrew, he looked as if he really wanted to kill him. Andrew saw how Kalenis retreated and worried, if he was scared, did it mean Camilo actually wanted to kill him?

"you only have yourself to blame, Little Andrew."

That line.

Andrew shuddered at that phrase.

Camilo shouldn't know. It was impossible for him to know.

But that phrase carried weight in Andrew's mind. A scar left there from his childhood with an abusive father. A father he hasn't contacted in several years until the couple days before they crossed the portals. Camilo would never know that. Unless he knew Andrew's father, or heard his call. _Impossible_ , Andrew thought, as Camilo continued getting closer, _even if he heard me talking, no way he could hear Jonah… he didn't even say that!_

As his small panic attack continued, he remembered where he was. If Camilo was going to be lawless, he would be too. He had trained himself to never be the victim of abuse again. Camilo was a kid, but he would be a beaten kid if he took a step closer.

"Camilo. Stop, or I'll punch you in the nuts."

"You're almost as threatening as wet toilet paper." Camilo continued walking up to Andrew, until he was inches from his face, almost feeling the fear exuding from his body, "Did the smart shrink piss his pants like the fucking baby he is?"

Andrew practically threw himself over Camilo, almost crushing him under his weight. When he realized what he had done, he tried to get up but got a punch in the face, from Camilo, who then locked him between his legs, not letting him get away. Afraid, he threw another punch, to his surprise, he hit Camilo right on his cheek, making him turn his face almost too far away from its strength.

Andrew was in disadvantage in this fight. Camilo wanted to hurt him, but he didn't want to hurt the only person around who could possibly take him back home. Worried he might break something, he tried to get away once more, but he lifted Camilo with him. now, he saw Camilo's legs were around his waist, getting him in a meat lock, then, in quick succession, he felt pain on his gut, next on his chin, and finally on his stitches from three almost invisible punches from Camilo.

Andrew roared from pain, and didn't care anymore. He lashed out at Camilo, hitting his chest and his left arm when he tried to cover himself. Trying hard to remember where were his sore spots from the previous fight, and doing his best to get him off of himself.

"hah! Baby punches won't get you anywhere, asshole!"

"Why don't you know how to shut up!" he hit Camilo in the chest again, he saw his face, his smile and he wanted to erase it.

He drove his fist into it, but hit the chin, making him wince from pain, then, he got hit on his face again, the pain shot from the other side this time, close to his eyes, and he fell on his back, getting Camilo off of him, and covering the places he hit last with his hands,

"Gaah, get away from me, you freak! Why are you doing this? You're a monster, that's why your mother wanted you interned" Andrew felt something sinking on his stomach, he was breathless now, and he took his hands off his face, Camilo's foot was on top of his chest, and didn't move, applying more pressure each second.

"You got a big mouth. Too bad it won't fight for you, Bagur." In a second of confusion, Camilo seemed to realize what was going on, and let off the pressure on his foot.

Camilo fell to his face, surprised by the turn of events. Andrew kicked him from behind and rolled to the side in this tiny moment of doubt he had. He gasped for air and tried to get away, standing up with great difficulty, and when he turned, Camilo was already up, looking at him like he was a ghost. Andrew tensed up again, and tried to get away, flinching when Camilo raised his hand in defeat

"Fucking… listen, I'm sorry for all these things I said. I didn't mean it"

"Screw you. You have hard bones. You tried to kill me. Again."

"I'm sorry I was… I'm sorry."

"what the hell?" Andrew was dumbfounded in this situation, unsure even how did it come to a stop, until Kalenis stepped in the middle of them.

"it appears you are projecting problems from your past into the current situation," Kalenis interjected, speaking slowly, and looking at both of them, before turning to Camilo, "This Bagur person is not here at the moment."

"Who?" Andrew was confused, but if Kalenis had said something so specific, it seemed to carry weight, and by Camilo's expression, it seemed to have hit the nail in the head.


	9. Chapter 9

"Just go to sleep. I'll spar with Kalenis a while, gotta get me used to it again" Camilo said, bringing the conversation to an abrupt end. Kalenis, out of interest followed him as he walked away with his fists on a ball.

Kalenis walked with Camilo, for a bit. A particular point of Celestials was that, as long as they were a direct and open creature, they could read the language of the other bodies, including most creatures from other worlds. She could see anger and frustration bubbling inside him, a Turmoil, she liked calling it.

Camilo's turmoil seemed to be born of the association he did, with this person or creature called Bagur, and she could see a scar left there by whoever this person was. A scar that Camilo _wanted_ to heal, but it seemed he was still holding open out of spite.

"if I may." he begun, as Camilo stretched on the floor, waiting for him to acknowledge him.

" _what_?" Camilo spit, before realizing who he was talking to, "sorry, it's…"

"I understand this person you mentioned has hurt you before. Is it the same as the one on your story?"

"What do you know about it?" Camilo seemed defensive, "Did Andrew tell you something?"

"he did not. As a celestial, I can see the words your body speaks. I see pain and anger when you spoke of Andrew by that name, in the previous fight." Met with silence, Kalenis continued, "I sense you did not wish to harm Andrew, but rather, give him a lesson. At some point, your lesson became mindless violence because of your words and pain."

"What do my words have to do with it?"

"it seemed to me that Andrew was scared up to the point where you directed blame back to him. you said something about having none to blame, other than himself, and his body also showed me pain, as yours do."

"…you only have yourself to blame, little Andrew… when I said that?" Camilo glanced at Andrew, who was already covering himself with a bedsheet and putting some on the floor, ready to go to sleep. His fist were finally letting go of his force, as he seemed to be hit by sadness, rather than anger, "I'm gonna have to apologize."

"I suppose that is a choice. Now, you mentioned you wanted to spar with me, do you still wish to do so?"

"y…yeah, I guess. Let me know if I'm going too far."

Kalenis and Camilo took a bit more distance, so their yelling and grunting during the fight wouldn't interfere with Andrew's sleep. Camilo, despite still being injured, could hold himself well against her. Yet, his mind often drifted and Kalenis would hit him with more power than intended, when he didn't dodge or counter her attacks. Kalenis brought Camilo's attention to this and he dismissed the comments as being tired. To Kalenis, these lies were clear as the day, but didn't want to push further, as Camilo could close himself to further intervention.

They fought almost an hour more, before Camilo's pain forced them to stop and let it there for the day. Camilo was somewhat satisfied by this, since he was getting back in the shape he needed for the future problems he would face when they got to a more populated area, or to his own world. but there was a long way before he could be where he wanted, and this filled him with frustration.

The rest of the day had taken a long time to finish, and the night made them unable to move. He slept after Kalenis did, so he could set watch, and Kalenis switched with him. Andrew slept for a long time, his body trying to get used to these long nights, and trying to make him act according to this world's schedule. Although Camilo wanted to apologize, he didn't find a good time to do so, so, once they were up again and the light was coming back, they took some time to chat absentmindedly and bathed on the river, the cold water tensed both of their bodies and eased some of Camilo's leg and gut pain.

Camilo was the first one to dress, since he felt that Andrew was uncomfortable being nude with him around. He remembered being that modest, a long time ago, and how his experiences in Yi-intakael changed him to be more open minded about both his worldview and his perception of nudity. He had no problem with it, but as Andrew did, he tried to, at least, respect that. Camilo made a small fire once more, now with more materials available, and prepared the fruit Kalenis kept bringing them so they could have breakfast.

"Y'know, I'm getting tired of eating the same thing every day." Camilo's words were absent, as if he was thinking about something.

"It's still good don't you think?" Andrew answered, interested in keeping the conversation going.

"Yeah, sure." Camilo's response seemed dull, and to the point, stopping any further comments.

After breakfast Camilo made Andrew stretch for a while, and told him a schedule he came up with the previous night: they would have around 10 hours of walking, spread throughout a human day, with 3 hours for any eating break which doubled as resting time, and 4 hours of training before going to sleep 7 hours, depending on what time of the day they were, if their cycle ended at night, they would take a day off from walking if they agreed on it.

With this new schedule, the days quickly passed for the group. Kalenis helped guide them and kept them away from unnecessary conflict while they traveled, at least for the days Camilo took to heal his wounds. During this time, the training sessions were mostly from Camilo, lecturing Andrew on what to expect during a fight, joined by a small time of practicing actual fighting techniques, nothing too physically demanding, of course, taking into account the already tired Andrew. Whenever they finished, Camilo would usually send Andrew to sleep and spar with Kalenis for a while.

With this pace, including the constant deviation from the path Camilo wanted to follow, they reached the forest about four days later than what Camilo expected, but Andrew didn't point it out, since Camilo was silent most of the trip since the day of the fight, and was constantly getting angry whenever they had to take a detour or surpass any difficult obstacle. He never blamed either Andrew or Kalenis, but both could see the stress he was handling.

Andrew and Kalenis talked, whenever Camilo was having a fit of rage, and he had learned that Kalenis was able to read part of his body language, and that his frustration came from somewhere else, not from their current situation. This frustration was slowly poisoning his being, and it would close him off if they didn't intervene.

On the fourth or fifth night inside the forest, Camilo remembered what he promised Andrew, and grew frustrated with himself. He wasn't even focused on what he was doing, and had slacked off on some of the lessons he was giving Andrew on their nights. He wanted to yell, but with Andrew and Kalenis, and who knew what kind of creatures around, he swallowed the bitter taste of anger. They didn't walk any more that day and the night came faster than they had thought it would, considering they didn't do much for a few hours. Camilo didn't spar with Kalenis and didn't say anything to Andrew in all this time, and for the first time since the beginning of the trip, he went to sleep before Andrew did.

Andrew wasn't as tired as the other days, thanks to the rest they had, but he went to sleep beside Camilo, facing his back, and thinking about what Kalenis had recommended to do. He was unsure on what to do, or even where to start, but he suspected part of this frustration, came from what he was going to tell him about his time in Yi-intakael. His projections, of these people on him during the fight, the fact he had been on edge since he finished the previous part, were obvious warning signs, but he didn't know how to approach, and thus, was stuck there.

Andrew fell asleep easily, but woke up a couple times during the night, given his sleep was lighter when he wasn't as tired. He felt Camilo trashing around on his makeshift bed, until he sat up grunting and mumbling something under his breath. Andrew sat up, in his bed, looked at him. Camilo had his face covered and breathing slowly, apparently remembering one of the relaxation exercises he taught him years ago. When he finished, he looked at Andrew and opened his mouth for a moment, but no sound came out of it.

"I'm not going to ask you about it, if you don't want me to." Andrew whispered trying to not wake Kalenis up, "But you're acting weird since a few days back."

"I would say so." Camilo completed, but stopped there, letting Andrew talk.

"look, this clearly affects you. How much sleep do you get after I go to bed? Why don't you talk to me? You know I may be able to help even without meds." Andrew pleaded him to give more information, he wouldn't be able to help without it.

"It's not a matter of meds;" Camilo groaned, rubbing his face, "I usually sleep six, seven hours, sometimes less. But not every day, I've tried my best to keep up with Yi-intakael's time, so it may look weird to you"

"Look Camilo, I'm doing my best to think anything goes," that he was, considering the days didn't even seem to last the same every day, "frankly, this place is weird, it doesn't even feel like day and night always come at the same intervals. If there's something weird, tell me, because I sure as hell don't know what's normal."

"hehe, I'm sorry I'm making you worry, it's… well…"

"I would guess it's what happened after you got to the city right? You were… look, if you don't want to, you shouldn't remember that."

"What are you talking about? Aren't you supposed to ask for details?"

"It doesn't work that way Camilo. Listen, some people need to remember it so they can let it go, but other people are better off burying those things. I don't blame you, not after all this, but you didn't say anything about all this mess so I don't really have enough insight to help. The best I can do right now is… well, lend you an ear."

"Let's wait until morning okay? Kalenis was also interested in that, meanwhile, you should sleep, don't let me keep you up."

"It's okay, I'm tired but I'm okay, I wasn't as sleepy as I was worried about you, you're usually calm but you were going off with anything, are _you_ going to sleep?"

"Nah, I'm thinking too many things at the same time; one night without sleep is not a big deal…" Camilo shifted until he lay on his back looking upwards "too many things happened in too little time… it's hard… I should be okay y'know? It's been what? 80 years? I guess a little over 75, and—let's—let's talk about something else okay?"

"I'm just astonished, right now I believe you, I don't have all the details but you were old, really old, old enough to not be fighting a God on equal terms… how many Gods were there?"

"oh… I guess 13?... no, no… 20, without minor deities. Want to know anything else?"

"Well… no offense, but you don't look the religious type. But I saw you doing something after the Abernas, back when we arrived. Did you do that with Kalmeyar?"

"What? Ask Kiltha for forgiveness? It's a common ritual, and one of the easiest ones. She and I… we have an agreement, sort of, she's the Goddess of justice, forgiveness and hunting, I am some sort of avatar, I think… I was never sure of that, she wanted me to kill all gods, including her… to…uh… bring change to the world." The last part felt awkward, and both Camilo and Andrew noticed it.

"You're a priest? Weird… avatar… why did she want to be killed?"

"Look, Andrew," after the initial misstep of Camilo, he seemed to have organized his ideas, and was now talking normally, "your world has many religions, I don't know and never really cared to find out which one or ones were real or not, but no matter which you believe in—listen, are you Christian?"

"No, I'm a catholic, we're different"

"Huh… I would've never guessed there were Catholics in America… most of you are… ummm, what's the word? Protestants?"

"Yeah, sure that's one of them, but you know, it's a free country and you can pray to whoever you want, we have Muslims, and Jews as well… there's tons of people, so of course there's tons of beliefs"

"Cool, dad was a Jehovah's witness before mom divorced him… Okay, to the point, in any of those religions, the ones in charge are either immortal or everlasting and that means there's no change, or that it's slow, like, if you ask an 80-something man or woman if they like… I don't know, the internet, they will say things like 'in my younger years blah blah blah' because we grow accustomed to old things and we have trouble opening to new things"

"I see, I think I get an idea of what you mean. But it feels like cheating," Andrew chuckled, "your Gods are physical, and you can see and talk to them, and then you go and kill them"

"Only… Menefar? I forget his name, he and Kiltha are the only two that remain anyway. Remember Menefar? He's the God of order, and Kiltha's my only Goddess, I'm not aligned with Menefar."

"Aligned?"

"oh, yeah, Gods have alignments, so do us, their avatars. Most gods support, or want to kill, or want to befriend one another, Kiltha's justice forces her own being to recognize them, but not align herself with any of them"

"But what does that alignment do then?"

"I… I don't know how they do it, but—for example, Menefar and Malindare, that's the God of Chaos, are total opposites but they are aligned, no matter who you pray to, you receive graces from both of them, of course, you receive a lot less from the one you don't pray to, but you still get them anyway"

"Okay, wait, wait, wait, graces?"

"it's like—okay, so mine with Kiltha are…I have something like the voice of the people, I can rally people to fight for justice, _only_ justice, mind you, I can also know when an apology is not felt from heart, and hunting—I am an excellent hunter, and that's all on me, but Kiltha's graces help me a lot, prey doesn't notice me as easily, or I have a better chance to hit a vital place… I've been teaching you how to hunt, you know prey doesn't just die with the first shot. Remember the alligator or deer… that thing we found a couple days ago?"

"Oh yeah, when we hid because of the other monster trying to eat it, we saw how its skin broke the teeth of the big one—it seemed that its eyes and a bit under its legs was soft enough to hit. I thought it could jump high but not run fast from the way it moved, I guess we could have taken it down if I shot an arrow and you stabbed it while it was distracted looking for me."

"You're getting the hang of it really quick. You're still lacking the skill to pull that off, but you can at least plan it, I was slower than this."

"Gee thanks" Andrew threw a slight punch to Camilo's arm while he laughed "way to motivate me. Anyways, you're a good teacher, angry or not, and I have a good memory, it should go smoothly as long as they don't move like you or Kalenis"

"So… unmoving targets?"

"Pretty much"

"Hahaha, it's good that you know what you can and can't do, but at least show off a little, I still haven't done my angry teacher routine." On cue, Camilo took a serious expression, and talked with a crochety old man's voice, "'Andrew, the bow is a tool, if you don't hone your skills, it will work as good as a hammer for polishing'"

"Keep working on that, some day it may actually sound good."

"Okay sir teacher." Camilo's laughter died off, but he tried to compose his expression, "Anyway, I don't know if Kiltha's graces get all the way here, but if they do, I could, maybe, get close enough to get it in the face without it hearing me"

"That's _definitely_ cheating. That is an unfair advantage"

"It's more of a small push of luck, you take your steps more carefully and that"

"Okay, what are the other ones, the gods?"

"There's Inaleir, God of life and death," he made a bitter face at this name, remembering some things best left unmentioned, "it's neither male nor female, and it's aligned with O'sh'k, God of nature, seasons and harvest." As Camilo saw him mouthing the names, he chuckled, "don't bother, it's impossible to pronounce their name. This one isn't male or female either. Some say that you are under Inaleir's domain for as long as you live until you die, even if you pray or not to them, they send health or sickness either way."

"Oh, I get it!" Andrew almost shouted, before correcting himself, "depending on what they rule over, they are aligned to opposites or the ones that complement each other. Right?"

"Kind of, it's not entirely _true_ , but is not _wrong_ , I don't remember if it's Sah, or Shah, but she rules over war and she's aligned to O'sh'k as well, even if O'sh'k are not aligned to her. I told you, the only unaligned is Kiltha, so she can be neutral, but alignment is not necessarily mutual."

"Is it like, when a God likes another, they align?"

"Maybe, but I don't think so… Maybe with Xio'ane, God of love, he's aligned to everyone, and to get his graces, all you have to do is… be in love. And yet, he respects Kiltha's situation and isn't aligned to her." Camilo paused for a moment, thinking how to better express his ideas, "look, these Gods aren't human, but they aren't _inhuman_ , they feel but they don't react on those feelings like us do, they are the embodiment of the concepts they rule over."

"I don't get it, what do you mean when you say they don't react on their feelings? Also, can you pray to all of them?"

"Sure, you could pray to all of them, but usually you just pray to whichever you feel the need to, I mean, why would you pray to order and chaos at the same time? Sure, they both deal with the destruction of one another, but they are too different for you to need both of them at the same time… Or would you pray to love and death at the sa—forget that one, I just remembered one of Dinak's… 'fans'… bit of a whacko there."

"Dinaik?"

"DinAk" Camilo said while increasing the volume of his voice just in the 'a' "he appears in what I'll tell you tomorrow morning, okay? There's also Yryui, The Goddess of weather, rivers and anything water related, everyone says seasons would not have a different weather if he wouldn't dance around O'sh'k to please them"

"Stop, stop, you said Goddess, and then said 'He danced around', If it's a he, it's a God"

"it's a bit complicated… While Yryui is a Goddess, he also asks of his followers, or anyone for that matter, to call him as a man. Why? No idea, I guess it's because they feel male no matter what. I really don't mind… it was his life, so I had nothing against him. There's also the twins."

"Castor and Pollux? You're going for something that predictable?" Andrew laughed, at the upcoming information.

"why do people always say those names?"

"They're the most known twins in the world? They're Greek gods, no, they're Gemini, if I'm not mistaken"

"Oh. So that's where _that_ comes from… anyway, the twins are Lomeria and Asuvaw, they count as two Gods, but they both rule over the same: they are the ones in charge of the souls going to the Beyond. They align with Inaleir only when you're about to die, and they don't provide graces. They guide you to Piwam, the goddess in charge of the resurrection cycles, she will make sure your soul lives again after you're clean of your previous life memories"

"So, there's resurrection on your world?"

"I don't know. That's what the priests tell you, and we did find The Twins and Piwam, but if there's resurrection we haven't seen it."

"What about magic?" Andrew asked his million dollar question, the one he wanted a straight answer to since some time ago.

"What about it?"

"Well… Kalenis doesn't know what magic is, but he said you have life tied inside you" Andrew shifted uncomfortably in his bed until he sat up "and you wrote in your notebook about… mana, running out"

"it's not mana" he said disinterested, as if it wasn't the first time he explained it "I—those days, from the notebook, were weird, I remember writing until I passed out, then I woke up and kept writing, I was afraid I would forget everything if it was a high-level illusion."

"You were really worried about illusions, why is that? You are usually more confident in what you can do"

"We, humans, are more susceptible to mental manipulation, since we have less senses and less affinity to magic than other beings. Illusion makes a mess with our heads because we rely on our eyes and ears mostly, if you can use magic up to certain level, you can _detect_ an illusion, but—I guess you can't be good at everything."

"So, you can use magic. That is so cool, can you show me? Is it too difficult to learn?"

"I can do something _minimal_." He said, putting his hands together and looking at them. After a couple seconds, Andrew could see a faint glow emanating from them, "I'm running relatively low because of the rune, and if I waste much, I'm not sure I can still feel portals."

"Oh, but then, what about learning?"

"it's a little hard to get the hang of magic but, this is a secret: any human can do magic, even if the books say we aren't able, I did some tests with a couple of servants and—"

"You had servants?!" Andrew yelled in his whispers, and got tense in his bed, "You had _slaves_? How could you?"

"Whoa there! calm down. It's not like I _bought_ them, they just came to me and wouldn't go away no matter what I did, so I got stuck with them."

"Either way they were slaves" the look on Andrew's face changed drastically and felt as if it wanted to pierce the eyes of Camilo.

"Look. There was, and _still is_ , an abundance of slaves in Yi-intakael. People get into debts they can only pay by going into slavery. I couldn't do anything against that, _overall_. At first, I tried releasing any slaves I found, but most of them had nowhere to go, so I had to change my deal… And _mine_ were _not_ slaves, they were servants."

"It's the same"

"After my family and I did some reforms, it _became_ the same." Camilo was getting agitated at this situation, thinking Andrew should understand where he was coming from, "Stop looking at me that way, _I_ was a slave, remember? The little thing with Elkoala? It's not like I would go around and do something like that to someone else… I swore I would never let that happen to anyone again. My servants were also free to come and go however and whenever they pleased."

"It's like you're sugarcoating it. Slavery is, and will always be, wrong, no matter how you call it."

"okay, fine," Camilo said, already tired of playing this game, "then, what would you do if Han Jee Sul, a human, would have dragged himself to your doorstep with a broken, bloodied arm, afraid of his previous fucking _owner,_ and begging you, in a broken spanish, to _please_ help, that he had nowhere to go?"

"It's not—"

"or what about Cindy, speaking in English, Spanish and French, sometimes in the same sentence, asking if _perhaps,_ just _maybe,_ she could be of help to you, instead of being a thief with a loud conscience, _crying_ herself to sleep for the damage she's done to others so _she_ can survive?"

"So wh—"

"Or a poor little child with no name," his face contorted to almost fuming anger, as he continued, "came through your window, blowing it to bits, while a golem hits your door screaming that he will boil her fucking hands if she didn't return the slice of bread she _desperately_ held in her tiny hands?"

Camilo's eyes had a stronger feel to them compared to the judgement in Andrew's, and with all the reason. Camilo understood, Andrew was a black American man, that in itself had _heavy_ connotations with slavery in their history, but what he wanted Andrew to understand, is that he wasn't forcing anyone.

"it's not like I wanted to keep them at my house," Camilo pouted, and looked away, receding on his fury, "they came, and I helped. _They_ decided to stay. Han Jee Sul was an excellent painter, and he remembered many things from your world. With his paintings, my house finally felt like home. Before he _finally_ learned spanish, Cindy was the best conversation I had had in years about your world. Babel was already 5 when she came to me, and she tried to steal food from me after I took my eyes from her for a couple seconds. I didn't let her, I wasn't going to be outsmarted by a toddler. She would have to tell me first, and then I would be happy to cook for her and talk with her. She learned how important it was to say please and thank you."

"How many were there? How many servants you had?" Andrew asked, this time, with less judgment, given that the situation seemed to have two different sides to it.

"around ten, tops, at the same time. I helped anyone who would come, but my house wasn't big enough for all of us… some would receive anything I could give them and be on their way. Others, I would send to my family's houses, specially to Lingster's, he was a mess and everyone was happy to help the grumpy old man. Cindy, Han-jee and the little Babel stayed with me for 5 or 6 years, when they decided to be a family on their own"

"You want me to believe that? That you had a bunch of strangers in your house just because?"

"almost all of them were human… we're not from that world, we are usually weaker than the other races, so we need to be together. By then, I was someone important enough that people just couldn't come and have their way with me. Also, I was kind of avoiding another 'dark human' to come back and destroy everything we worked so hard for. There's a prophecy and all that"

"Really. A prophecy."

"For real!" Camilo chuckled, "at some point, my family thought I was that guy… I think Parminea was the one that deciphered it. It was written in a long-forgotten language and it took her like 3 years and a lot of travelling to find out what it was, but that's for later."

The night was long and mostly silent, but they kept whispering between them. Andrew was surprised to know that Camilo _did_ know the name of all servants he had under his care, how long they stayed with him or his friends, and what were they best at. It seemed to Andrew he did care about all of these strangers, and that their servitude, based on what Camilo recounted, was mostly out of gratitude, than obligation.

Camilo kept going on about them for a long time in the night. He remembered mostly the children, many more than what Andrew could believe, and how he kept them well fed and guided them to be what they were best at. Even with so many children – he _called_ them children, but based on his descriptions, Andrew figured they were mostly teens –, he usually had at least three adults of varying ages in his house, to help with this kindergarten he managed.

He had experience training sword and club-fighters, but most kids found the bow too hard to maintain and to use, so he hadn't trained anyone in archery before Andrew. He would also teach how to write to everyone in his house. Camilo, only now did Andrew realize, had the knowledge of a teacher and _that_ was the thing that helped him get it.

The servants could ask to be sent to another of the houses if they wanted to learn something from his friends. Many usually went to Lingster to learn blacksmithing and weapon forging with him. one of the most requested trades in a world like Camilo's.

"He… he had little patience. I never learnt how to make a blade or a bow because of that... You got like three or four mistakes and he'll just give up on you. _But_ he cares deeply about effort. Most of the people that went to him, earned his respect on sweat and blood."

"What would the others teach to them? How old were the children when they left?"

"well… Parminea had the least amount of teaching experience out of all of us, since not many were interested to learn about ruins and ancient civilizations, but she had her handful of students. Hehe, none of them ever slept, talking to her in silly disputes like how is a character read or why use a brush instead of a cloth."

"I've known people like that, I can picture it."

"Most children were seventeen or so when they left my house. Not all of them were pre-teens when they arrived, and some would stay a couple of months, until they healed a wound, or learned what they needed. It usually involved a lot of tears. Especially from Lingster, but we don't say that to him."

"That's odd… though I'd have no idea about that."

"Yeah, you'll see. Then, came Dinak, who taught them how to make potions and all that stuff. He made many people become scholars of magic, trying to learn all about it, but not practicing it. And a bunch of alchemists… lots and lots of them. Medical science improved a lot in our world because of what he was teaching all of them, though his lessons were usually… volatile. I mean, not _all_ of them, but if you smelled herbs around a block away, it was better if you stepped back for a couple of hours."

"like people in science labs in some colleges."

"sure. I've met a couple mad scientists here and there." Camilo chuckled, "Sistuk, my boyfriend, was a bartender, so I couldn't just send kids to that maniac to get drunk out of their shoes. But a couple adults wanted to do that, so he taught them… his lessons usually involved heavy drinking. 'you have to taste it, until they taste the same' was his method."

"He's a crazy man."

"no doubt about it." Camilo laughed, "he's one of the Goo People, their bodies are malleable and flexible, and come in bright colors, usually. Then, Jilett, and Falkot were mercenaries, so anyone with a liking for that kind of job were personally trained by them. Which would involve coming back to my house to tend to their wounds from training."

"that's an extreme kind of training, don't you think?"

"well… they were right, tho. You can't really learn how to fight unless you actually do, and even with practice equipment, it will involve getting your ass beat a lot until you improve."

"other than last time, you haven't…beat my ass."

"yeah… about that. I'm sorry, for the things I said." Camilo got a bit sad at the mention, and seemed awfully regretful about it. "I stepped over my boundaries. I'm sorry."

"it's… it's not your fault. You said something I haven't heard in years. And that was a whole mess of a problem, so it triggered something in me too. Sorry about the things I said too."

"It'll be morning in a while," Camilo said, acknowledging his apology, "I'll tell you about the others later, another night. Take a bath when you're ready, the river is going away from the portals so this might be the last time we clean up in some time"


	10. Chapter 10

Andrew looked around, it was still dark around so he didn't feel like morning was coming, he checked his watch and saw that 3 hours had passed, so they hadn't been there too long, but since the conversation died, he just stayed there, looking upward for a while, until he saw some light creeping through the leaves into his face, he then realized how thick were the leaves in the trees around them, and remembered how deep into the forest they were.

Andrew stood up and lifted his bed, he'd grown used to his new daily routine after the first week traveling, he would pick the bed up, fold all the sheets and put them in Camilo's bag while Camilo bathed in the river, he would bathe then, while Camilo picked his sheets up and made breakfast. Kalenis would usually go away while they do that and would come back after eating something on its own.

Camilo was worried, he wanted to move on with his story, but, _those_ particular memories weren't pleasing. Especially since, and he never told anyone this particular thing, when he came back to earth, he had felt the rush of memories. It was instant, but there was a reason why he remembered _so much_. It drove him mad.

This new part would be painful to remember, but he had to. He owed it to Andrew, and to his family, to let go of this. He was too focused on the past to go on to his future, this could be a way to get rid of that attachment to old grudges. He wasn't going to let go _several_ of them, but at least, this could help with some.

"Andrew c'mon, hurry up, you said you weren't sleepy a few hours ago, we're already behind schedule and we shouldn't lose more time." Camilo said, as they walked for a while, focused on the path ahead, trying to stay clear of other creatures. He still didn't want to fight with Andrew on tow, if he could help it.

"What's the hurry if we're on the way? Relax a bit, Camilo" Andrew groaned.

"I'm not going to relax, don't think I forgot you gotta go back home"

"… oh, yeah, that." Andrew's stare went far, further than what his eyes could see, and this worried Camilo.

"Are you having second thoughts about home, Andrew?"

"No, it's not that, it's just…" Andrew sighed, "let's say I've come to terms that it may not happen any time soon. Or at all."

"Don't be like that Andrew, believe me when I say I'll get you home no matter what, okay? It may take some time, but it'll be done."

"There are portals to and from every possible world there is, except the younger ones" said Kalenis, walking through the trees, licking his beak and looking at them both "it is more than likely that you will find not only one, but many portals towards your world. Also, the portals act differently depending on who crosses them, so you will be able to get home sooner or later"

"Yeah! That thing he said" Camilo said, beaming with a smile, trying to ease Andrew's worries.

"You don't really sound confident in what you just said Camilo"

"I honestly don't know how they work." Camilo shrugged, there was no point in faking he knew what he was doing, "I know the one in the ancient temple of… Menefar? I think that's the name, anyways, that one sent me back to my house before I was summoned, so… it will probably work and get you to the cave."

"Yeah, I guess, but anyway, it's not like I'm going to be _missed_ , so we got time"

"Don't think like that!" Camilo worried, rushing back to Andrew, "and if you think that… well. Let's not think about that, okay? Oh yeah, I'll keep talking about what happened on the city, so don't think too much about that for now."

"Oh, your previous tale, you were disturbed for what happened that time." Kalenis added, once again, reading into their bodies, "it seems you are still affected. Will you be alright?"

"It's okay, I've been overthinking it, and it was affecting me, but I think it's better to let it out and stop remembering it once and for all. Let's move, we have a long day ahead."

"Again, if you don't want to remember, and it causes you so much pain, it's better if you don't."

"Again, it'll be fine, stop worrying. Lets get out of this place and I'll begin with it."

Andrew picked the bag this time, he grunted, but he knew today was his turn to carry it. Plus, he also remembered that he still had to practice with the bow and arrows while they walked. Camilo had used the rest of the night they didn't sleep fletching a few arrows for him to practice. They weren't amazing, but they could still be used without leaving them empty handed while they traveled. Andrew cursed mentally; he should have slept the three hours they spent talking. Around their noon, he would be terribly tired.

"Okay…" Camilo took a deep breath before he began. This was gonna be difficult for him, "here we go, I guess…

Um, oh, yeah… I was at the river, about a couple kilometers or so from the city, I wanted to bathe there because, honestly, I smelled like cattle. After I did, I looked around to see if anyone nearby had seen me, still with my persecution fear, and I saw a smoke pillar behind me, where I came from…

I knew they were after me… I thought it was a matter of time, but this was too fast.

I…

I didn't…" Camilo took a deep breath, holding himself, as if he was afraid he would disappear, "I didn't want to…

Elkoala would have been _pissed._ If he wasn't really gonna kill me, now, I was sure the idea was pretty high on his priority list.

So, I kept going. I wanted to hide among the people of the town to at least make it harder for them to find me… either way, if Older One was there, I knew they would find me eventually.

I was sure I would stand out among the townspeople. Luckily, there were some humans in the streets, some were paupers and others were better dressed but they had injuries on their bodies, so someone like me wouldn't stand out. Most were slaves, but some weren't.

I walked around in a hurry, trying to get some place where no one could find me even if they were actually looking for me. I wanted to be as stealthily as I could… what's the word?"

"Average? Maybe mundane?"

"Perhaps you wished to be unremarkable."

"any of those work. I just didn't want anyone to remember having seen me. So, I walked around in a hurry, checking everywhere I could without getting in trouble, like I had lost something.

The only hiding place I found was near the entrance of the town, much to my growing pain in the ass and my panic, in a little hole on a wall, there was a small space that let me see into the main plaza, where the market was, and, in theory, no one should be able to see me there from outside, since there was no light in.

I crawled into that hole, and waited there for an eternity. It felt as the longest morning I've ever had.

I knew when they arrived, because the market went silent… I.

I could hear the rumbling of the mount…" Camilo's breathing had, the closer he got to this point, become uneven, and his frown grew tighter since he was getting angry and scared at the upcoming memories.

"hey, kid, breathe. Count backwards from one hundred, every six numbers." Andrew suggested, and Camilo followed his advice, slowly.

"okay, I'm all right… okay…

The market went silent and the… the mount I heard was one I knew too well. It was a golem mount, it looked reptilian, like a giant iguana, but it was metallic and it worked like machinery, and the only one with that mount was Felanor.

I smelled smoke coming from it, so I thought it may have been overworked to get here so fast. But he was alone,

He was alone.

He was supposed to be alone.

He was… wh-why was he…"

"Camilo, it's fine. This isn't happening right now."

"I _know._ I… I know…

I… he shouldn't have been able to find me on his own… he _shouldn't_ have…

After a while, in fear, every spot on the market had been moved away. The people, everyone who saw Felanor, left the open space all cleaned up, and no one moved. If any of them were there, and you left, they would kill that person.

that's… that's when they all walked there." Once again, Camilo stopped, grunting at the air in front of him due to his frustration. Kalenis and Andrew just looked at him, neither wanted to interrupt, or this would become even more difficult. Kalenis did see, where Andrew apparently didn't, that Camilo was tearing up in his eyes.

It didn't take longer for the tears to start flowing, and Camilo to have trouble breathing and talking. Andrew approached to try and clean them, but Camilo pushed him away, cleaning his tears away by himself.

"Felanor and Older one," he continued, pushing himself to go on, "both of them were in the middle of the plaza… and the fuckers had the bear that helped me earlier tied to a huge log, burning and shaking himself…

Lingster…

Lingster was tied there somehow, without any rope, and he kept burning slowly! He couldn't… He couldn't get away and he wouldn't _die_ in a long time… fuck, wait, a second please…." Camilo breathed deeply, he put his hands on his hair and slid them there a couple of times, tangling his hair between his fingers, almost wanting to rip it apart with each pull.

"Camilo, again, you don't—" Andrew was stopped by Camilo, who simply put his index over his own lips, and he took a while to calm.

"Um," he tried to organize his thoughts, "he… Lingster was screaming, or it _looked_ like it, but there was no sound.

These… these fuckers started talking after everyone saw them.

—there is a human we're looking for in this town. This is what will happen to you and your town if we find out that you have been helping him hide — God, I'm shaking just by remembering how afraid I was.

—The human is in this town, a small one, his skin is lightly brown and he has long hair, I will find him even if you cover for him — that one was Older One. He seemed… distracted, and I was praying he wasn't already aware where I was.

—LINGSTER!—

A tiny creature yelled.

I could see him pushing through the people, with my VIP seating… he had a pale, white skin, whiter than white, and a long tail popping out of his back, it was thick, like the ones alligators have, but he didn't have scales, his skin was like mine, no fur, scales or anything else.

Dinak… my poor baby…" Camilo stopped for a bit to sniffle, and clean his tears, having a moment of even bigger sadness than he was having before. This time, when Andrew approached to try and calm him down, he let him hold him in his arms, wanting the support. After a bit of silence, when he calmed down, he continued talking.

"thanks…

Dinak was… he couldn't even finish what he was saying before Felanor dropped from his mount and punched him in the face.

Both of them flew away at the same time from it. He was bleeding, the kid, and Felanor had his nose twitched in a weird way, I could see it from really far so it had to be a serious pain.

—Felanor, go back to camp and report to the captain, treat your wound, I will find the human — Older one said, looking at him, and around, still distracted.

—What are your orders? — for some reason, it looked like Felanor didn't trust Older One at this point.

—find the human, restrain him and bring him back. If he resists, break him enough to bring him back to camp, if he _still_ resists, kill him and make an example out of him, then report to the captain. Under no circumstances should I let him go, nor help him get away, and I'm not allowed to let a loophole let him get away—

I shuddered at my hiding spot, and a lot of the people were already looking around to see if anyone fit that description… some… some poor asshole was going to die if they looked like me." Camilo stops once more, and hugs himself as much as he can, trying to find solace in this dark memory.

"Felanor left.

Thank god he did.

His wound should have been serious if he refused to stay and… _play_ … more, with Lingster. Then, older one tied the kid and put him together with Lingster.

Now, the little kid, Dinak, was screaming as loud as his lungs let him. It… a scream like that it's hard to ignore or forget, you know?

I was feeling sorry for the kid but I didn't have the balls to go out.

I was afraid.

I'm still afraid.

I didn't want to look at it anymore, but I had to be sure I could, at least, run away.

I saw people looking at them, no one wanted to help.

I don't blame them. Anyone who would dare, would simply join them.

I would have died…

I didn't wanna die.

But, seeing the little kid made me angry as well…

I was a mess of emotions. I no longer knew what the fuck did I want to do… and then, Older One turned his gigantic eye directly at me. When he saw me, I knew there was nothing I could do.

If I wanted to get away…

he had to…

die.

I had to kill him.

I was gonna get killed by Older One. I was poorly fed, and lots of people had never been able to do what I felt was my only choice.

I came out of the hole, while he stared at me, the townspeople seemed to be afraid of me as much as they were of older one. I had both knives out and took a piece of cloth that was in the ground, I cut my finger and scribbled there to show Older one." Camilo pauses for a moment, lost in thought as he looks at the same finger he cut in his story. Andrew tries to pat him in the back, to try and relax him, but Camilo flinched and moved away in a second.

"I'm fine… Andrew, have you killed someone? Another person?"

"I… a long time ago, in the army…"

"have you… never mind.

—What does this say?— I asked him. I wasn't sure I knew how to write. I learned a couple things by looking at the notes Elkoala's team passed to each other and what they said about it later.

—This note proves I'm dead or away from here — he simply read it. He didn't have to, but he did.

—I will kill you; if I do, will Elkoala destroy this town? — I must have stuttered twenty million times, asking that… I was so scared.

—Not if he finds proof that you are away and none of the townspeople helped.—

—good to know he's not a total dick. Let the two of them go, they have nothing to do with me.—

—the one on the left provided you food. The one in the right raised his voice against us. — Older One seemed to be looking for something, while he answered to me — You are our general's pet, why do you mind what happens to these two?—

—What you fucking do with me doesn't matter. Let them go. Now.—

—You don't command me—

That was it. I was furious enough not to think anything clearly. I ran towards him with the knives in my hands like they use them in the movies. I thought I knew how to use them that way and, since there's no movies there, Older one wouldn't know what to do.

I was such a moron.

Movies weren't gonna help!

 _I_ didn't know how to fucking _fight_. I had _never_ killed anyone, and here I was, trying to do, not only _fucking stupid_ shit, doing _fucking stupid_ shit against someone that knew everything _I_ didn't!

He just slapped my hands with his tentacles, and made me drop the knives with that.

Whenever I picked them up, he would make me throw them on the floor, over and over again...

It…

It _seemed_ it was true he wanted me alive to take me to Elkoala but…

I – I wouldn't let him.

I wouldn't.

I wasn't…

I didn't wanna go back!

I was never gonna come back! Never! Never in my fucking life!"

"Camilo, you can stop, _please_ , clean your face, don't do this to yourself" Andrew came closer once again, and tried to comfort Camilo, cleaning his tears.

"It's… It's okay, Andrew, it happened a long time ago. I'm okay." Camilo lied, still teared up, and having a hard time even breathing.

"You are not," Kalenis informed, reading into him "this story hurts you, at least as much as it did then"


	11. Chapter 11

"I'm good Kalenis. Either way I'll keep going… or I won't forget it.

When… when I approached Older One, the rest of the people in town threw rocks at me. The first one hit me in the head…

I…

I know they were scared of me…

I would make them all die if I won, but I didn't want to go back…

No one was thinking of me, same way I wasn't thinking of anyone except me.

The rocks hit me everywhere, but most of them came towards my face.

I was a moron.

I'm still a moron, thinking about this shit.

While people tried to kill me, I kept trying to get the knives and Older One kept making me drop them.

It was a dumbass thing to do! I could have done anything! I could have _left!_

In the end, I grabbed just one of them with both hands. This time, Older one tried hitting me, but I didn't drop it.

During all this mess, I had been taking steps closer to him, so now, the townspeople stopped hitting me in fear of hitting Older One and getting in bigger problems...

He…

he _just_ floated there…

I was in reach, and he didn't do anything,

I…

I l- lashed out at his giant eye and he went blind with the cut.

It… the—it…

It was the first time I had cut someone, it felt weird, soft, slimy. I was bathed in his blood.

He didn't flinch.

I was gasping for air, tense.

This felt horrible.

I wondered how did _they_ kill so much without even flinching, where I just _cut_ someone and felt like I was dying…

—are you done? Human? — Older one asked me, and he seemed to still be able to see me without his giant eye.

When I heard him, I panicked.

I drove the knife into him again, and again and again…" Camilo's voice trailed off, his face seemed like he wanted to keep that cycle of repeating, just to remind himself how many times he attacked Older One. His mouth kept repeating it, without sound, for a few seconds, absorbed into the memory.

Andrew came by to him and gently hit his cheek with his hand, trying to wake him from this stupor, which, when he reacted, he simply smiled weakly, defeated, and rubbed his cheek, coming back to reality, but not wasting any more time to continue where he was.

"he…

I was blinded by frenzy.

He put a tentacle on my face while I kept cutting and stabbing him." Camilo imitated his movements as if he was still doing it,

"I was screaming and crying and drooling all over the place…

And he kept the tentacle in place.

I don't… I don't even know what the people thought I was doing with him.

I couldn't hear them anymore, if they were throwing rocks at me, if I was still being hurt… I… I didn't know.

—there is a house, on the mountains, — I could hear his voice, and felt like claws going into my brain. — it took me a while to find it, and I had to pretend I wasn't looking, in case _he_ was still looking at me. Try to find it, and you will be safe from… Elkoala. I know how you feel, Camilo, and I don't want to take you back to our endless torture. My only options are to die at your hands or take you, and I'm choosing the former. —

—shut up! Shut up! — I was yelling incoherence now. I thought he was playing with my mind, like Elkoala enjoyed doing.

—the people can't hear me. —

He-!

He kept talking!

Inside my head! Calm!

L-like… Like I wasn't just gutting him out in a plaza full of people watching!

—If these two stay, our group will kill them. Take them with you to that house… you may live a longer life if you don't ever get out from there… I am sorry, for what I did to you, and thank you for releasing me. —"

There was a long pause, as they walked. Camilo was attacked by a small creature, and he simply let himself be bit. When Andrew tried to react, Kalenis stopped him, just in time to see Camilo rip the creature in half. His throat sounded like it would tear apart, from how Camilo screeched in fury.

He didn't make sense to Andrew, although Kalenis seemed to understand better what was going on. Kalenis simply leaned in closer to Andrew, and, for the first time since they met, Kalenis whispered.

"Camilo is confused. His mind yells to be furious, but grateful. There are things he is not telling us yet, and his story will not make sense until then. Allow him this moment of respite, before he continues suffering until the end of his story."

"I… it's not healthy, Kalenis. He'll-"

"he will heal. He is healing right now. Let him continue."

"I…" Camilo's voice brought them back, as he simply stared at the blood on his hands,

"I didn't stop…

Older One's tentacle went limp and I… I kept gutting him.

The _eye_ was now an empty socket, and I kept going.

I took every little thing out of his insides and kept cutting.

I fucking broke him in half!

And even then! I-I… I kept going until I was just a mess of blood, drool and tears…

Just like fucking now!

I think I just kneeled there, over the dead body and cried out for a while." Camilo's voice died off matter of fact, while he shook his hands, trying to get rid of the blood on them.

He took a while, before his breathing calmed for a bit. He needed this release, and it had been too long since he let himself feel _anything_. _Glad to know I'm not fucking mad_ , he joked with himself, inside his head, and feeling, while exhausted, slightly better than at the beginning, having cried his heart out. He thought it was unusual for him to cry, having grown used to pain in his old body, and making sure no one around him would worry, given the role he had been assigned a few years after this tale. That would be a story to tell, trying to find out how would Andrew react.

Speaking of which, when he turned to see him, he saw the face of a father, worried about his child who had just injured himself. Only now, he realized how horrible it must have looked like, for a _professional_ to look at him like that. With the critters in the woods, and the distraction of his pain, both mental and now physical, he decided to cut this part of the story a bit short, before they continued. After all, it had been hours, or at least it felt like it had been hours, since he began.

"I was just yelling." Camilo continued, now, in a very visibly different mood, more positive, and relaxed than just a few moments ago, "I couldn't tell the difference between the guts on my face and my tears….

I was afraid, and I was making the people scared too.

Nobody moved around, and they all just stared at me.

Even when I picked the cloth and nailed it to the ground with the bloody knife, or even when I went for the other knife.

They just looked at me, in awe. I think… because no one _ever_ defeated one of them, and I had just… you know.

You know? I… think you and I need a breather for a bit. Can you give me a few moments, before we go on?"

This reaction took both Andrew and Kalenis by surprise. Andrew worried about Camilo's state, and was about to argue, but Kalenis, once more, stopped him, stealing his initiative, and talking first.

"Camilo." Kalenis began, slowly, as if each word should sink in before anything else should, "I have just now seen what I believe is but a seed of your pain. I sensed, before, your body was troubled, but did not know why. You have now and excess of energy, which will be damaging your body, and have a proposal." Kalenis waited a moment and, after sensing Camilo's interest, continued, "Since we have walked, you have been unaware of some perils, in the form of the small Bijte, the small creature you have recently killed. Their aggressive behavior is a risk to other creatures in this area. Could I trouble you with getting rid of… say, sixty of them?"

"I could let out some steam, yeah…" Camilo said, sighing, glad it wasn't a question of his well-being, but rather, a way to de-stress, "are those hard to find?"

"No. they are not subtle, and, if you were attacked just now, it would not be odd to find more of them around. It should take you an hour or so to get rid of them, that should give you some respite, if you would be willing to lend me your hands on the task."

"Sure, I'll get to that. You two can stay here, rest for a bit… just sixty?"

"Yes."

"I'll get to that. Wait here."

Camilo said, and left, with a certain tension on his walk, towards the bushes around, willing to kill. After a few minutes, after he did, Kalenis turned to Andrew, who had sat on a root, and was covering his face. His body language expressing distress to Kalenis, and attempting to bottle it up, which would certainly be damaging for his health and mental state.

"You probably have questions." Kalenis begun, looking at Andrew, "and it will be unhealthy for you to keep it inside. Do you wish to talk?"


	12. Chapter 12

"Talk?" Andrew groaned, his face buried on his hands, "Talk!? Kalenis, the kid is _suffering_! Why did you ask him to continue!? He should have stopped two thousand times already!"

"he should not."

"He _should_!" Andrew yelled, removing his hands, "Kalenis! I work with _minds_ , I'm a _doctor_ , and my _professional_ opinion dictates that Camilo will probably suffer from this, instead of getting better!"

"I am aware." Kalenis said, looking into him, "your body has yelled for some time that you are against this. But this discharge that Camilo is doing will help."

"and _how_ exactly is that supposed to happen!?"

"I do not understand something about Camilo very clearly, however, there is something that he has been given. Perhaps, in time, he will tell you or me, but I believe he has been granted, somehow, all of these memories, in a forced manner, thus, the only way he can get rid of them, is to experience them once more."

"What?"

"his body has been holding itself together, but recently, his memories have caused his anger, given that they seem to be looking for a way out. I believe it will be healthy for him. Also, considering he has anger problems, killing the Bijte, will be beneficial for his current state of animosity, and for the ecosystem around us."

"B- Violence isn't a solution, Kalenis!"

"in this particular case, it looks like it is."

"and what if you're wrong? What if Camilo can't take it, and does, God forbid, something extreme?"

"if that were the case, I would have stopped him before he remembered killing the creature he mentioned. Give it time, Andrew, and when Camilo comes back, you will see the change in his mood. He will not be happy, but he will be in a better state."

Andrew couldn't believe this was a good thing. Camilo had been at the edge of a breakdown mere minutes ago, and Kalenis, after that emotional overload, recommended he would go on a killing spree. Andrew was sincerely scared of what could Camilo do in this situation. Yes, he was prone to anger, and often exploded with it. Yes, he was also irresponsible when it came to his on well-being. And finally, he had some self-deprecating comments every once in a while. But, he had been too private about his day to day activities before this trip.

Andrew was afraid. He didn't know Camilo. he didn't know him enough to even think that his mind wasn't exaggerating when he thought Camilo would end up killing himself, if the burden of these memories he forcefully dug out of the edges of his memory, had been too much for him.

Even in this month. Had it been a month? Whatever, in this long time out of earth, Camilo had still kept several things of himself private. Andrew didn't know anything about him, and had asked him to open up about his most serious trauma ever. Worse than that, Camilo trusted him enough to want to comply with his stupid request from even before they started this trip.

"Self-hate, and doubt, will not be of help to you in getting to know him, Andrew."

"well, I kind of hate when you get in my mind like that." He spit at Kalenis, before regretting his tone, "I… I'm sorry. It's… it's hard."

"I understand." Kalenis said, looking into the distance, "I also understand humans wish to keep images of themselves in other person's minds. It shows in the way Camilo wishes to avoid discussing certain subjects with you, in the same way you do."

"How do you know so much?"

"Your bodies speak. I listen. It is one of the duties of Celestials: To listen, to help, to Fix creatures."

"Fix?"

"Correct. In some cases, I am able to fix creatures, simply by removing the cause of their problems, as I have done by asking Camilo to kill sixty Bijte, to help fix the area's imbalance. In some cases, I can help fix them by listening to their problems."

"alright… I'll believe you… but if Camilo isn't better, I'll stop him no matter what it takes."

"Understandable."

Both waited for Camilo in silence. It would be a while, since it hadn't been that long since he left. It took more or less what Kalenis expected for Camilo to complete his request, and Camilo came back pretty clean, without a lot of blood on him, and with a serious expression. He didn't have any injuries either and he was short of breath, meaning he had come back as soon as he had just finished killing creatures. He took a couple sips of the waterskin he had, and sat down for a bit, to catch his breath.

"very well." Camilo said, after a bit, still with a serious expression, "I'm feeling a bit better now…I…"

"Hey, Camilo. sorry I asked you to remember this." Andrew apologized, feeling he had wronged Camilo,

"It's fine, it's not like you put those in my head."

"did you complete the task I asked you?"

"I did, yeah." Camilo smiled weakly, "tell you what, it wasn't easy, those little critters are hard to kill when they're all together in a bunch. But it turned out to be a good exercise, and a good release of the stress I had accumulated. Thankfully, the next parts aren't that much of a mess, so it'll be fine."

"you sure you want to continue? I'm fine with not knowing more of that, Camilo, as long as you're fine."

"it'll be fine. I left it at the point after killing Older One, right?" Camilo said, he did seem a bit calmer, but not perfectly fine. Of course, he wasn't, after such a trauma, but he could continue. He stood up once more, and started walking, slowly, so Andrew and Kalenis could follow him.

"I got up and came closer to Lingster and Dinak. It seemed, to my untrained eye, the fire was from Older One's magic, as it died off at some point. When I put my hand on the little one's back, my face started hurting a lot. It looked as if he could transfer his pain to others when they touched him.

—Don't. You'll be in pain— he was _whispering_ …. This kid also had his own problems before and that voice ratted him out, it looked like his shout from before was a fantasy. And… well, after I got to know him he had a lot of shit going on… I'll leave that for later.

—I don't care kid; I want to ask you a couple of things… will he survive? And, will you come with me to another place? — I was scared, but I could only feel sympathy for these two, who got involved with me and paid the price for it.

— I—Lingster is my friend! Don't hurt him, please! — he was more scared of me than Elkoala's grunts, apparently. Of course, I had just killed one of them, so I guess he was right.

—shh, it's okay… I will try to help him; he can live if he comes with me — I… I'm not really good at, you know, comforting people, I guess…

— are you—are you threatening me? —

— No, kid. — I was so tired.

It felt surreal, I'm not even sure what I was saying. Maybe I did threaten him, I sure as fuck don't know… — The guys that are chasing me did this to him. If I leave him… if I leave him, they will come and kill him. And maybe you, since you… well, since Felanor hit you and you… um, you hit him back, I guess? —

Then, the kid looked around him. I joined him, and saw that most people were looking at Older One's body. He… the people didn't move, like they didn't want to do anything that could mark them as the culprits of this kill.

Dinak… He pulled a flask from his robe, with a thick, oily-looking liquid, and splashed it over his face. Surprisingly, he shook his head a bit, and the pain on mine was less. I went on to grab Lingster, but the kid took my hand and stopped me before I grabbed him.

— listen… um, mister human... if you grab him while touching me… well, he will—he may wake up, he may be able to walk, but you will share half of his pain. — He said, almost worried for me. I mean, he didn't know me, I couldn't tell if he was or not.

— And you? —

— I've grown used to the pain of others. — He told me with a smile! Dinak was very weird… anyways, — I will stand it, but—you will get the most pain out of us three —"

"Wait, the kid would be in pain if you picked the bear up?" Andrew piped in, actually realizing Camilo was better than before, and seeing him with less tears, and more caring in his eyes.

"It seems as if the young one's affinity was extremely high… is it a racial trait for him?"

"Um… yes, he would… well; he said he would feel just a bit of the pain, but- I'm on it, okay? He's a special case. His race can do that, but it was as if he couldn't turn it off."

"Meaning?"

"Dinak belongs to an unusual race, even in Yi-intakael. He said the name, but I can't for the life of me remember what it was… anyways, his kind can feel the pain in others and take it as theirs, to help whoever is suffering… they don't share wounds, but just the pain.

— You think he'll accept? — he asked me, about the bear. To be honest, he looked gigantic, and I wasn't sure I could carry him up a mountain… still, a debt's a debt, isn't it?

— No. but he got in trouble because of me, so… well, I want to repay him, if he doesn't want me, would you come with me? —

— I will, I can't live here after what happened —

And so, we tried lifting Lingster.

When we touched him, he woke up in panic, he was looking everywhere and, in trying to pull him up, and him trying to resist, I fell to the ground with him on top of me.

His burns were really bad, or at least I felt them like that.

It was so painful, I almost faint from the hit. That was what the kid tried telling me. Since we were still touching him, I think Lingster saw the kid, saw Older One and saw me, covered in gore, and understood or, at least, figured out what had happened.

He didn't say a word to me.

He seriously didn't like me.

Well, he did say — where will you go now? —

I just told him that I knew some place, and if he wanted, he could come with me and the kid.

When he lifted himself, he let go of me for a second, trying to get more comfortable, and this… dropped the kid's power I think. He went unconscious again, falling on top of me, again...

We had to try a couple of times before we stood up at the same time and we could start moving.

So, Lingster leaned on me, but still held a lot of his own weight, while I held the kid's hand and tried to keep both of them moving at a similar pace, trying to avoid Lingster going down again… it took us close to twenty minutes, but we were somewhat used to it, and we started walking to the mountain.

The people simply watched us, in awe… I… I don't know. I understand their feelings, but it was a dick move not to give us even a hand, or a comment or anything. Of course, I pretty much single handedly signed their death sentences with my little party. I guess I wasn't top on their priorities.

It took us a few hours… I don't know, between having to hold Lingster so he wouldn't let go, and holding the kid so Lingster could barely walk, I didn't have enough brainpower to keep track of the time especially considering all the constant pain we were all suffering, and the hardship of actually walking up a mountain's incline for what could potentially be six hours… where was I going with this? I forgot. Anyways, it was super hard.

After a while, anyways, I looked over my shoulder, when we were still surrounded by a lot of plants and stuff, but not yet at the thick of the mountain's forest, and saw a… some sort of dust cloud. From the shape… and how fast that cloud was moving, it was more than likely Bagur's mount….

If Bagur came…" Camilo trailed off for a bit, and once more, remembering this person, his face warped in anger. It took a couple moments, before Andrew remembered he called him by that name on their fight a few days before.

"If he came," Camilo followed, trying to cover for his silence by coughing a bit, "it was likely that Elkoala was coming as well, since he didn't leave the camp unless Elkoala asked him to accompany him.

 _Of course_ , I didn't tell _them_ that. Lingster seemed the type of person to blame me for them coming, and this time it wasn't my fault. I didn't know Dinak, but he would possibly hate my guts. And, even if I didn't want to be with Elkoala and his merry band of assholes, I didn't want to be alone.

Plus, I wanted to be away and in peace.

We walked through the paths in the mountain until a particular point. To be honest, I think we went around in circles a couple times… anyways, at some point, it was like something clicked inside my head.

I knew exactly where to go, how long would it take us at our pace, and what time would we arrive. It wasn't easy to find with the step by step guide inside my brain, and that meant it would be fucking impossible for Elkoala to find me there! I was so happy…

We walked between the wilderness and we didn't find animals on the trail we were using. Lingster said it smelled weird, a slight smell under all the plants and crap, but we didn't know what it was. I sure as hell didn't, all I could smell was the smell of burnt flesh, and blood from him… and the herbs that made Dinak's poultice.

It was hard to traverse.

And painful.

So painful.

Since Lingster was so badly burned, his skin was sensitive to everything that grazed him. and, because of Dinak's power, he and I were both getting waves of pain whenever Lingster did. Only then, after a couple hours getting used to it, I realized how much pain Dinak was getting from Lingster. He flinched whenever I felt something, even if he was trying really hard to hide it, but I worried, if I couldn't even breathe, at some points, from the pain, and I had constant beat ups with Elkoala, I could only imagine how Lingster was, and how the little guy, Dinak, felt.

I didn't know how to help him, I wanted to talk, but I felt like I was the one to blame for the pain he felt.

— yo, Dinak, if ya tired, say something. This guy ain't gonna stop unless ya tell 'im to — Lingster got the head start, on this conversation.

— oh, I'm sorry kid, are you tired? — I… I didn't know how to get to the subject, but Lingster gave me a pretty good way to begin — I'm sorry, I didn't know, sorry about that, please, let's stop for a while. —

— Are we close by to the place you said? — he _faked_ being well, but he was huffing and panting more than me, and I was holding the most of Lingster's weight. I felt like shit for that… man, I don't know how they became my friends after doing that to them.

— um… it should take us around an extra hour… let's stop, okay? We can stop if you want. I'm sorry I'm rushing you. —

— We can go if you want to… um… sir? —

— jus' call quits. We're far from Elkoala so ya can breathe, cub. And leggo o' Dinak, he's in pain, in case ya _still_ havn't noticed —

— I _know_ he's in pain. He agreed to help me carry you, you big oaf. Besides, if we let go, you'll pass out again. —

— 'couple hours sleep ain't gonna kill me —

— Lingster, we should go, at least until we get somewhere I can make a potion to treat your burns with —

— fuckin' lemme go Dinak, we got time. Lingster let go of me and went limp in the ground. He was out cold, but woke up a few seconds later with a painful grimace, looking pretty ugly — Fuckin'… shit's pack a punch —

— Hey, are you alright? — I could breathe, it felt like I was holding my breath all the time I carried him. While I enjoyed the air I could feel now, he lifted his hand and I jumped almost a meter or two back, tripping on a root on the ground, and I fell on my ass. From there, I saw he had his thumb up, and had simply lifted his hand to do that, — shit dude, don't do that, please. —

— ya real jumpy, cub. Ain't gonna eat ya. How long ya been here? —

— 6748 days and a bit more in some dark hole. — I _think._ I spent a lot of time with Elkoala, and some of those I was un-fucking-conscious from their beating me, so I was as certain of that as how many days of life I've lived now.

— den ya a veteran. Ain't no need to go an' be 'fraid o' me, right? —

— _You_ don't scare me. —

— whatever ya say, cub. — Lingster went silent for a bit, looking straight at me, — So, what's yer deal with Elkoala? —

— No idea. — I looked at the kid, and he was rubbing his arms a bit. It seemed he lied about the duration of the pain as well — I guess he wanted me to look pretty and have his house clean —

— with dat mug ya got? Hard to believe he want ya pretty. — now he was just doing it to piss me off, so I lashed out as well. I was very stressed out at the time.

— At least I don't have half my fucking face melted off, ass. —

— hooo, got balls to say dat to mah face, cub. —

— I'm not a cub. I'm Camilo, that's my name —

— whatever, why does Elkoala want ya? Dat guy in town was with 'im, right? —

— He's… he was Older one. He tried to take me back to Elkoala, he said he was gonna execute me before his crew, after I kicked their asses. —

— Kilshit. No one can beat 'em —

— Not when Elkoala's there. On their own they're a bunch of idiots. Maybe Bagur is smart, but they're just soldiers. —

— you fought Elkoala's troops!? — Dinak asked, in a mix of surprise and not believing a word out of my mouth — No one has been able to do that ever. Who are you? —

— your name is Dinak, right? Don't say I fought them. I made it so they fought each other. They did almost all of the job, how do you know Elkoala, um, Lingster? —

— Ev'rybody fuckin' does. —

If we hadn't shut up in that awkward silence, we would have not heard the female snapper that was coming closer. Those are gigantic. Maybe like one of those whales in our world, but they are on land.

I grabbed Dinak and Lingster and we walked as fast as we could to get away from there. After a while, we slowed down again, and I put Dinak over my back. I was tired, and in pain, but the kid was worse than me, so the least I could do was carry him.

That worked out really bad.

It took me at least four times longer to get to the house.

When we arrived, it was…

Well, it looked like shit.

Honestly. The roof had holes in it, the house seemed to be halfway into being swallowed into the mountain rock, but it was all we had. And with all the hand labor I had been doing, it actually looked like I could fix it.

I left both of them outside just in case there were animals or something inside. I came in and the dust raised like a storm, as soon as I opened the door there was gust of wind from the inside to where I was. It almost threw me to the ground, making me swallow half an inch of dirt and grime. After a while, when I was able to breathe without tasting dust, I came in and looked around.

The holes in the roof had let the rain in and the hardwood floors were rotten. At least in the front of the house. Turns out, the mountain wasn't swallowing the house, but it was polished and turned into a part of the house, the front was useless because of how bad it was, but the rest of the house had been safe from the elements and beasts.

I kept going, fascinated, the house wasn't cold, it was perfect, there were rooms resembling bathrooms but well, without plumbing, but they didn't smell like shit, and that was all that mattered.

Deeper into the house were a few rooms, and there were _beds_! _Beds_!" Camilo almost jumped from joy at the memory, like he was living it right now.

"I had been sleeping on the ground for so long that I threw myself over it, excited, like an asshole..."

"You jumped into the bed, big whoop, why do you say like an Asshole?"

"I jumped into a bed that hadn't been used in Kiltha knows how long. I was grateful a fucking demon didn't come out of that… there was enough dust for me to be covered from head to toe.

The rest of it came in my eyes and all over my body. I was dusting myself during the rest of my little exploration and trying to taste my own mouth again behind the dirt…

Now, I found many rooms, with anything you could imagine. It made no sense that anyone would abandon some place like that.

It had a kitchen, a forge, a room for alchemy, an open-air bath at the deep end and even some place that looked like a training room. The open-air bath had a river, a room with a river coming through it!

They, whoever made this place, had made a large enough hole so that some of the water would stay and make a pool. It was like a dream house. But it shouldn't be so deep in the mountain… and why would it have a front made entirely in wood while the rest was in stone? It was too weird, but it was the best we had for the time being.

I went back out and explained to them what I found. Lingster was sitting on the wood, leaning against a wall while he licked some of his open wounds, while Dinak was pacing around before they saw me.

— So. That's what I found. What do you think? —

— it's good; you said there was a room with flasks and straws? Maybe I can use that to help Lingster. Oh… but I need herbs… and water, and fire. Sorry for asking all that —

— Stop dat crap Dinak, ya always apologizing, it's a pain. —

— hey! He's trying to help, you fucking loaf! Why don't you shut up for a minute and hear the little kid? —

— I do what Ah want, cub. An' he needs to stop dat shit. —

— Fucking dick. Look Dinak, I can help you, alright? But give me a while before that, I'll clean up everything and we can put that asshole to sleep while we find them, is that good? —

— Yes, if it's fine with you. —

— Cool. Then I'll get to business, don't go in, there'll be a ton of dirt and crap —

And so, I realized I left Elkoala to do the same thing he had me doing.

But either way, it kept me distracted, it was a hard work, it was a _lot_ of work, and I had no time to think about anything else, it was the best distraction I could ask for.

I cleaned the rooms first, and found some windows I hadn't seen before; I opened them so I wouldn't catch all that dust and then get myself sick.

The cleaning went well, the stone didn't let the dust settle too much so it was easy to clean it up and I didn't have to scrub so much with the little brushes they used in that world.

Anyway, after I cleaned the first room and dusted the mattress and the sheets as best as I could, we put Lingster there to rest more. We wouldn't let him cover himself with the sheets so I could clean them better with the river water.

Overall, it took us almost all morning—well, what was left of it, to just have Lingster well rested and clean and all that.

Since he had so many wounds, we were both worried about the mattress, but there was no time to clean it in less than a couple of days, so I washed another mattress and let it dry while we did the rest.

At least we would change the mattress as soon as we could…

In the afternoon, we went out to get the herbs Dinak needed and we came back with a ton of them, heh, the little guy could lift more than I did.

It was amazing!

I—he taught me what herbs were edible, but it was a quick lesson.

He had me help him clean everything in the lab too. He's very bossy when it's about alchemy, so I was cleaning everything while he tore apart every leaf, root and branch we picked up. After everything was clean, he pretty much threw me out of the room so he could work alone.

It became night before he came out and I still hadn't finished cleaning the forge.

He actually scared me, opening the door to the forge.

He basically threw the door open with his foot, and his way of opening the door sounded like Elkoala…

I almost cry right there, I didn't want to think about that, I had been busy all day long to avoid being alone with my thoughts, something I grew better at with each passing day for a while… so, anyway, he came with a bag that sounded every time he moved.

— I need your help. —

— Sure, what is it? —

— I need you to get Lingster naked and hold him —

— Whoa there! Naked? Why should I—he's a guy, I don't want to see him naked! And I'm pretty sure—I'm _damn fucking_ sure he's not gonna like being naked with the guy that got him on fire. —

— these are to clean his body and avoid him getting sicker. — Dinak explained, he showed me a bunch of crystal bottles with different colored liquids in them — It will burn a lot and he will squirm, if he does that, he'll rub off the ointment and it won't work. —

— but _why_ does he have to be _naked_?! You can just throw it on top of him, right? —

— the longer you complain, the longer it will take to do it. I already told him and he's fine with it, so I don't see what is the issue, it's only ointment. —

— but it's weird. Too weird. Like, we're two guys. —

— Oooh right. You humans have that weird thing with the nudity… Listen, I'm not asking you to get in bed and get fucked by him, I'm just asking you to hold him in place. Can you please help me do it or not? —

I was worried about it being weird, like whenever I cleaned Saimer. As long as it wasn't like that it should be fine. At least, when Lingster groaned, it didn't sound like Saimer or like he was gonna fucking cum at any notice.

He…

He stayed in that bed after we were done. I felt weird, all that ointment rubbed on me because he trashed around so much.

After that, were the years of hunting training I got, I didn't like it, but we had to eat. At first, I went to hunt with the knife or some swords that I found on the forge. Most of them were rusted but still cut the animals, however, since I sucked at it so much, I could only get some small critters, about two or three of them, every so often.

Lingster stayed in bed for a long time…" Camilo's tone grew sadder at this point, thinking about all he could have done differently.

"I think he stayed there about a year. He was eating the meat I got for him, and complaining about being hungry for the first months…

Then, _some_ time later, he made the first bow I got while lying in bed and telling me to hide the wood from Dinak.

Unfortunately, I couldn't get him to teach me how to use it, being bedridden and that, but he told me I could practice in his room, since 'only an ass misses something 5 feet away'.

He was, however, very good at telling me what I lacked. But he wouldn't let me take the bow out until I was decent with it.

We… well, _I_ tried my best.

After the first year, I was somewhat better at hunting with knives and swords and I went to get bigger prey…at first it didn't work well and usually I came back home with less food than before. I was used to being hungry for a couple of days but Dinak wasn't, and Lingster had to eat to get better someday.

So, I kept trying, and even if Dinak scolded me every time I got back home full of scratches, he still gave me some of the potions he made so it stopped hurting a bit.

Well… long-story short, the 6 or so years I spent in that house on the mountains taught me how to hunt. The first two gave me experience in close quarter combat against animals and the rest were 4 years of learning how to use a bow against moving animals. That was the beginning of my life there, as a free man, as a man with new friends.

Dinak was the one who opened up to me first, since I spent a lot of time with him collecting herbs, and helping him find more and more reagents, when he found out I could hunt, he asked me to go with him to see if there were some minerals that would help Lingster recover.

We actually didn't know what was the issue, his wounds were closed and whenever Dinak and I applied the ointment it would no longer hurt either of us, but he couldn't move from the bed too much.

We spent a couple of months trying to help him, I would go out and get bigger prey, maybe he was poorly fed, but it seemed that it was something else wrong with him.

Dinak told me he used to be a smith, but he rarely talked to me, other than the lessons he gave me.

We became closer when he started scolding me because he saw me going around with the bow stringed at home, since you're supposed to unstring it unless you're using it, and after that, on the practice, I broke it, I pulled the strings and shot without an arrow, that put too much pressure on the weakened wood and made it snap, it blew up in my hands and cut me deeply, it also hit me in the side of my face. That's when I got a snapper to carry a log back home.

Now, with that little stunt, Lingster had more things to do. He started asking me to take him to the forge, he asked for help with materials, he started calling me by my name…

Before we all knew it, we were making fun of each other, and talking non-stop, and laughing and crying sometimes.

Lingster told me about his life, and how scared he actually was when he saw Elkoala's mark on my ribs that day. He thought that I was one of his soldiers and that I was going to kill him if he got too close, but after that, he saw that I was only a scared human so he gave me food…

Well, I apologized deeply and _way_ too much to him, I still think that they burned him just because Older one saw him giving me food, but he said he knew he was getting in trouble as soon as he saw me.

Either way, he forgave me and the next years went by in a flash, with him being angry at me for breaking bows and swords or knives.

It seemed like he had some mental damage from the burns and we eased it a bit when we started talking to each other, he was getting less isolated with us, and when he was able to move again, he offered to teach me how to fight."

"it may have been a response to trauma… I'd say being with you for so long, maybe there was a time where he blamed you, and it became a psychosomatic issue."

"you'd know more than me about that, Andrew…

Let's just say the Kalmeyar was going easy on me, compared to what Lingster called 'training'.

I usually trained with him after hunting because he left me in shambles after that, I finished without energy or _muscles_ to even move to my bed, so hunting would have been out of the table.

And I guess that's the end of this part.

I know things came out for the best, but it was still scary… I slept horrible for the first few months, with nightmares where I saw Dinak split in half… or that I wasn't killing Older One but Lingster, and the screams…

I still remember Dinak's voice when he screamed, and his face…

I'm grateful the rooms were made in stone, so my screaming was not heard outside. About two years later I told them about it, but I had worked out most of that so it wasn't a big deal anymore." Camilo seems to come back to himself as he finishes, no longer looking into the distance. He cleaned his face for a bit, and was quiet as they walked for a couple minutes.

"Are you okay, Camilo?" Andrew began, once the silence was too much for him, "You were really tense when we started… and that was this morning."

"Wow… how long was I actually talking?" Camilo, just now, seemed to organize his thoughts enough to realize where he is and the passage of time.

"It doesn't matter. How are you felling now?"

"Better! actually. It—well, you may be right, it may have been better if I didn't remember, I haven't cried like that in years... But I feel lighter now, and I think that's good."

"Either way, let me know if you feel bad again okay? I worry about you having to remember all that."

"Don't, I told you I'm fine, besides we can go on, but I'm going to hold off my next story until we get to the next world, alright?" Camilo winked at Andrew with a bright smile on his face, his voice wasn't breaking anymore, like it was at various parts of the story, and his demeanor actually changed since he finished. "Now, let's go, tonight, we finish theory and we start practicing real fighting. Don't worry, I'll go easy, at first."


	13. Chapter 13

Camilo had a different demeanor and was more open to conversation after that day. As they traversed this dense forest, they often found different creatures. Kalenis was kind enough to let them know which ones were violent and which ones weren't, so they were in a bit of control in the situations they would encounter. Camilo, as he promised, tried putting Andrew in combat situations more often, whenever he could be in control.

Often, Andrew was incredibly scared, even if he was using the bow and arrows. Camilo would be at the front, and Kalenis was asked to take care of Andrew, if the creatures they fought were able to escape Camilo's range. The creatures seemed out of a fantasy book, all of them different to the previous one. They, or rather, Andrew, could only compare them to mixed creatures from earth. Camilo didn't seem phased by them. Deertopus? Just another day in the park, apparently. Humanoid made out of ant-like bugs? Probably killable, Camilo would say, before going on to beat the crap out of it.

Andrew, now, was able to see Camilo's violent behavior. He didn't shy away from a fight, even when it wasn't necessary or for their own protection. Camilo was, quite obviously, a short fuse, and Andrew was surprised to realize this only now, after what felt like a lifetime of traveling. Camilo reminded him daily, as he had grown fond of, of how long it was until the portals, a couple weeks, each day being taken off, then one week or so.

Kalenis had started training him as well to improve his reflexes faster and helped Camilo get in what he called a 'real fighting shape', making Andrew feel like a log. After this tough regimen started, Camilo stopped pushing Andrew on long walks during the day and spent more time improving his aim. He had an _unorthodox_ way of teaching, usually putting himself as a bullseye for Andrew to train. Although unwilling at the beginning, Andrew was reassured when Camilo demonstrated how he was taking measures as not to die on accident shot by Andrew. He had made an actual bullseye, he kept under his shirt, making him look plump.

What Andrew didn't know, was that he was bound to fail almost from the beginning, given that Camilo would usually stand further than the bow's reach, until Andrew learned this. Since he couldn't be spoon-feeding him all the time they were here, or in other worlds. Although, he expected him to be back on earth sooner than later. Hopefully, before they even made it to Yi-intakael. There were several things he wouldn't tell Andrew, or Kalenis, or anyone really, and even more he didn't want anyone to see.

Kalenis was, on the other hand, keenly aware of many things the other two believed to be secret. Celestial senses couldn't be turned off, after all. Humans were incredibly loud, compared to most creatures in this world, Pabo. Kalenis had learned of Andrew, that he was insecure, doubtful, and untrusting of Camilo. Even though on the outside he displayed confidence and stated he believed in his words, the seed of doubt had shown itself growing each time Camilo asked something new of him. Camilo, on the other hand, didn't trust either Kalenis or Andrew. His distrust was less pronounced on Andrew, having known him for a long time, but he still displayed the shadow of secrets looming over him. Camilo was sadistic, overconfident, and had several years of experience in him. He wasn't phased by most unusual creatures they faced, and was easily finding any and all weak points in the creatures he was more than eager to kill.

All in all, and with each day, Andrew improved a bit. Per Camilo's standards, his aim still left a lot to be desired, and he let him know that. However, as Camilo was prone to do, seeing the effort Andrew made each passing day, he also let him know how to fix his issues. The days went by in a flash, and with Andrew in a more appropriate shape and used to the new effort from this day to day routine, each day, they covered more terrain in less time. Andrew, however, nearing the end tail of the second week of travelling, was very tired both in body and spirit. It wasn't easy for a person to drop everything and go into an adventure, apparently, with all the training and fighting it involved. The lack of a vehicle also bothered him to no end. Kalenis kept them company and was walking with them, something that seemed like the best choice for their secrets to disappear, and improve the distrustful situation they were in. this would also avoid possible conflicts, like the one Andrew and Camilo had several weeks before, and would avoid turmoil in their souls.

The group crossed most of the forest, and, after that, arrived to a plain. There were far less creatures that could be seen roaming around, and Kalenis informed them these plains were mostly void of creatures, save for any one that would be migrating. With this in mind, Camilo had Andrew rest for a couple days, while he kept on hunting, and making sure they had some things to eat in the road. With Kalenis' help, he got meat, and some herbs and roots to change the flavor of the food they had. With Camilo's knowledge, they were also able to get fat from them, and use it to cook or fry it. From here on, the trip went faster, on this leveled terrain. However, from the layout of this world, they saw like they were still going downhill all the time. It looked as if the entire world was an enormous mountain.

A couple of weeks went by on the plain and, since there wasn't much to hunt, they resorted to fight among themselves to keep improving. Andrew would still be under mock combat, and always against Camilo, never against Kalenis. This bothered him, thinking he was being underestimated. After all, if he could see how both of them fought, what would be so different, right?

"you sure you wanna do that to yourself?" Camilo said, smug, thinking the answer was more than evident.

"I would not recommend it at the moment, Andrew."

"Come on! I'm going pretty good on the training, aren't I?"

"thing is… no offense or anything, but Kalenis isn't the best at holding himself back. Often he's borderline kicking my ass, so, maybe you…"

"It is difficult, but Andrew could still learn something from this. If he is willing, I am as well."

"I still think it's too soon."

"you two seem to forget that I can also get a say in this, don't you?" Andrew argued, groaning in frustration, "Come on. I'll be careful, I'm not going to even try and hurt Kalenis."

"not like you can either." Camilo said, a bit to the side.

"hey!"

"Come on, have you seen _me_ hurt Kalenis? ever?"

"you've been pretty close."

"you have. Although being close has not been enough so far. There is still the possibility I am stronger than him."

"no complaint here, you're still stronger, and getting better, way faster than I am." Camilo commented, hiding his true emotions pretty well, save for Kalenis. He was jealous of her progress, and frustrated against himself, for not being strong enough, for lacking so much.

"well, am I going to fight him or not?"

"I mean, it's your funeral."

"I agree, but I will need to be told when to stop, since I am still lacking in that aspect."

"I'll be the referee, I guess." Camilo said, stepping away from them, so he would have enough space to look at both of them, "Andrew! Knife, machete or no weapons?"

"I don't want to get him or myself hurt… barehanded, just in case." Andrew scratched the back of his neck, unsure of what he was getting himself into.

"Very well. Are you ready?"

"uh, just a sec…"

Andrew took a few seconds, stepping away, making sure his armor was strapped on correctly, and he took a moment to calm his own breathing. He had seen Kalenis fight Camilo, and Kalenis was very fast, but predictable. Kalenis was an animal, after all, and attempted to defeat prey by attacking from where they couldn't be a risk. Above, or their back. Andrew knew he wasn't much of a threat, but from what he knew, Kalenis was likely to attack from his back, since it was unfair for a beginner to be attacked where they couldn't reach.

"Andrew?" Camilo asked, taking a step closer to him, "you alright there?"

"Uh, what? Oh! Yeah, yeah, I'm fine, I was just planning what to do."

"what a pro." Camilo said, smug, and condescending, "Kalenis, please be careful."

"I will."

Andrew was nervous, same as he was with Camilo when they began, but it was fine, he could still see what Kalenis was planning to do, but now, he was having second thoughts as to what he was able to actually do.

"Alright, first one to connect three separate hits will win this match." Camilo said, having an idea, "this way we'll have a bit of control here."

"what do you mean by separate hits?"

"We'll make it like a match, each hit separates the three different rounds. This way, I can hold you back, before you go to town on Andrew."

"understood."

"alright, I got it."

Andrew went into position, and, while Camilo didn't let him know it, he sighed in defeat. Andrew's position was more than lacking. He was facing Kalenis face on, leaving all of his internal organs in front of him, ready to be torn apart. His arms were up to his chest, palms spread out like to grab Kalenis, but apart from his own body, leaving him prone to get his arms ripped off. A dark thought crossed Camilo's mind, before he continued analyzing the rest of Andrew's posture. He remembered a horrible event, but tried to let it go.

Next, Andrew was nervous. Panic was dangerous for the one feeling it, especially if the other side of the conflict wasn't panicking. He was too focused on Kalenis' face to focus on what the rest of his body was going to do. He wasn't ready. No way he was going to be ready in less than two months, but he was certainly not ready enough at the moment.

Kalenis read Andrew. His body was telling he was nervous, and that he suspected what she would be doing. Not a surprise, after being observed so often. Kalenis was aware that, in the worst case, Camilo would get to stopping the match, but there was something that needed to happen. Something that was mandatory to confirm, and it was how far would Camilo allow harm to come to Andrew. And what would happen to whoever had harmed him.

At the signal to go, Kalenis moved as fast as possible, and soon was behind Andrew, seeing his reaction. Andrew, surprising Kalenis and Camilo, had followed Kalenis' trajectory, when she flew up high, dove, and passed next to him, to stop behind his back. Andrew was, contrary to all belief, facing Kalenis and stretching his arms out to attack Kalenis, but a simple swat of wings pushed Andrew around, losing his impulse, and being hit in the face by Kalenis' wing, pushing him to the ground.

"Hold up!" Camilo began, "point for Kalenis, get back in places." Camilo wasn't sure, he thought Andrew wasn't going to follow Kalenis' moves, but Kalenis had been too aggressive for his tastes. Like Kalenis didn't even attempt to hold back on that hit.

"very well." Kalenis took a couple steps back, and read in Camilo what he suspected to happen. Camilo was protecting Andrew, in his own way, and it would be dangerous to keep on going.

"next one, both ready?"

"yeah, I am."

"I am, do not worry."

Second round began, and this time, Kalenis let Andrew take initiative. He moved well, making a couple feints to get Kalenis confused, and trying to run around her, so it wouldn't be obvious where he was attacking from. Camilo almost laughed at the attempt, in particular, when he tripped and fell to the ground.

Kalenis sighed, and took a couple steps forward, but stopped, at around the same time Camilo noticed what Andrew had done. Pretty clever, if they were honest. When Andrew fell, he grabbed a rock to throw, and almost passed their perception, if it wasn't for him trying to stand up, with one hand balled in a fist, looking at both like a kid who was trying to hide the mischief he'd done. When he stood up, busted, he dropped the rock to the ground and ran forward to Kalenis. Kalenis stepped to the side, and let him pass, but was hit in the head by something.

Andrew had grabbed more than one rock, and had distracted both of them by throwing one of them. In the time Kalenis realized, Andrew was close enough to get a hit in, but Kalenis simply stopped it with a wing, and hit him at the top of his head with a pecking motion. Childish, yes, but effective, as Andrew stepped back holding his head in pain.

"Second one, point for Kalenis. A moment, if you want, Kalenis?"

"very well." Kalenis came closer, as he wished, and leaned down to listen to Camilo better, "You wish to say something."

"Give him the next point. It may depress him if he doesn't get even one."

"Understood. He was very close though."

"You're too tough for him. Now, pretend I warned you you're going too far on him."

"understood." Kalenis simply began walking away, as usual.

"And don't try to hit him that hard again, Kalenis." Camilo yelled, "you can break his skull with your beak."

"I heard the first time it was said." Kalenis commented, still without looking at Camilo.

"What was that about?" Andrew started, still rubbing the top of his head.

"Nothing, let me see if you're hurt." Camilo took a step closer, and saw a minor scratch, so it wasn't something serious.

"I'm fine, it'll be alright. Besides, I think I can get Kalenis next time."

"sure 'bout it?"

"I think so, I have an idea, but, well, if I can't, it simply means I'm not ready yet." Andrew was smiling, a bit short of breath, and huffing under his voice, trying to disguise his real state,

"well, what are you waiting for, then?"

Camilo worried, but if Andrew was fine, then there wasn't any problem. Camilo observed them, Kalenis was taking a few steps as Andrew had previously, possibly attempting to learn how to feint as he did. The final bout began with both sides already in movement, and trying to read into each other's moves. Kalenis didn't fly, and was running, to reach Andrew. Camilo followed the two of them in their impromptu marathon along the plains. In a moment, Kalenis sped up caught up to Andrew, but, when this happened, Andrew stopped dead in his tracks, turning to hit Kalenis, but the weight of that body crashing against him made both fall to the ground just as his fist was going to connect against Kalenis.

"Alright, alright, get up, let's call this one a draw!" Camilo pulled on them to untangle and to get the big Kalenis off from the smaller Andrew.

"you're heavier than I thought, Kalenis."

"It is uncertain why would you think that, since I am bigger. I apologize for this incident."

"It's no problem."

"Well, that was a draw, I guess. I see what you were going for, but you really have to plant yourself pretty hard to stop someone bigger than you. Plus, the speed will…"

With just that, the little bout ended and turned into a lecture. Which was good enough for Andrew, since he was tired as hell right now. This lesson was welcome, as they walked back to their belongings. Camilo interrupted the lesson at some point, to run and get rid of a few creatures going through their bag.

Overall, the training went well and Andrew was improving really fast, but he was also tiring just as fast. Camilo had started training Andrew with a little bit more rough scenarios, so he would be ready, realizing how little he had improved in this time. The last stretch of the travel went by slowly. Because of this delay, and how much physical activity they were performing, they started running low on water. Even if Kalenis tried to bring them some of it every time he could, and Camilo sensed they were still some days away from the portals.

Camilo asked Kalenis for help about the water without letting Andrew know, but the closest place with water was still two days behind them or three days ahead and Camilo didn't want to push Andrew so hard without water, even if they had food. It was also hard to have Kalenis go so far away, perhaps for a few hours, maybe even longer than that, if they were currently passing through a few forested patches around, and they could inevitably get lost longer than the new supply of water would last. Even then, Camilo, after a few hours of thinking how it could work, realized the most basic of things, Kalenis had no thumbs. All his planning had gone to hell, if Kalenis couldn't cover the waterskins, since a lot of water would still be lost.

In a fit of caprice, Camilo stopped drinking his water to give it to him, in hopes he wouldn't notice it. It happened at night, while he was already sleeping. He grabbed his waterskin, and filled it up with the water on his own. Camilo left some on his own, to take a couple sips here and there, to try and disguise his condition. He could feel the portals were closer, so if he could make it a couple days without going mad, it would work.

"There is a lake, further ahead." Kalenis said, once Camilo had gone back to the bed, "it will have water, and it will take less time to carry it from there to here."

"I know. But there's a problem with that, and it's whatever's alive in the water. It could get me or Andrew sick, and we can't afford to get sick now."

"understood. The lake seems to be your final destination here in this world, so if we manage to reach it in less than four or five days, you will be able to recover easily."

"I'll make it happen, don't worry… and don't tell Andrew either."

This worked out almost as well as he expected it to do.

Camilo started getting headaches around noon of the second day. His lips were cracked, and his tongue felt dry, but since he always walked ahead of Andrew, simply giving instructions, and not looking at him for a lot of time, he could still hide it.

Andrew, of course, didn't notice it until the third day of traveling. There was a little bit longer to make it to the lake and the portals they were following. At first, Andrew noticed Camilo rubbing his head all day long. Always whenever he was supposed to be distracted. Odd, he thought, for a while. They ate afterwards, and Camilo seemed distracted, perhaps lost. Or distracted, that was also a thing. At night, when they were practicing, Camilo didn't focus on the little skirmish they had that night. Camilo was trying to grapple Andrew, and Andrew had turned, grabbed an arm, and threw him to the ground, where he didn't get up, having had his whole world spin around, like he was extremely drunk. He actually remembered a party like that, with Olianteras, one of his group.

When Camilo's world stopped spinning, he sat up, and Andrew crouched in front of him, his hands stretched, obviously thinking he had injured Camilo too much and regretting it. Camilo saw the look of worry on his face, and couldn't hold it in anymore. He resigned himself and told him what happened.

"I haven't been drinking water since, like, three days ago. A couple sips here and there, but I ran out two days ago." He looked away, still sitting on the ground. The cold there felt good against the thumping on his head.

"I can't believe you, Camilo! You could _die_!" Andrew worried, scrambling with the bag on his shoulders, "Come on, there's still water here. Drink it… come on, drink it now!" Andrew pushed his waterskin to Camilo, but he refused to receive it.

"Relax Andrew." Camilo flinched, a couple times, his headache, the pounding on his head, and Andrew almost yelling in front of him were hard to resist, "Tomorrow at noon, more or less, we'll arrive to a lake. I can drink there and after that—"

"I will _not_ relax, Camilo! Stop this, you're hurting yourself."

"Andrew..." Camilo began, sighing, and shrugging his shoulders, "You already know how I lived my first years on Yi-intakael. Taking into account I'm not taking any daily beatings, I can endure this a couple of days, and I'm telling you, tomorrow—"

"I don't care about tomorrow! drink it now, I can stay thirsty for tomorrow but you need the water now. You're all pale." Andrew extended the water canteen, it felt light but there was still some water on it. Since Camilo just stood there looking at him, he retracted his arm, "Don't make me _force_ you."

"We'll get to the portals tomorrow. I'll drink when I'm there... also, no way in hell you can take me on, don't kid yourself."

"What?" Andrew was shaken by the sudden turn of events.

"I mean, we've been getting far each day, and I've been pushing you lately so we make it there before I get really sick, and, in case you still didn't notice, it's been a month and three weeks, more or less, since we started this trip. I'm pushing right now because, when we get to them, I'll be able to feel if they connect to your world."

"Wh…" Andrew was at a loss, he had to mention his thoughts on the matter at some point, but he didn't this would be the result of not saying it, "Why didn't you tell me this before?"

"Because I wanted it to be a surprise." Camilo was almost ashamed, covering his face with his arm, "Tomorrow, I was planning to let you know of my headache to make you ask me to stop a while, in that time, I would check the portals and I would let you know where they lead."

"You risk _dying_ just to tell me I can go back to earth? That's absurd, it's stupid, it—"

"It's who I am." Camilo chuckled, remembering some names he used to be called before, "I got you into this on a whim, you deserve to go back home and—"

"I don't _want_ to go home. Not _now_ , at least."

"What!?" Now Camilo stood up, like a lightning bolt, ignoring his dizziness, and his pain, and came closer to see Andrew.

"Why would I _want_ to go back? It's—this has been the best month of my life. There's _so_ much to do. There are _so_ many things to _learn_ , and _worlds_ to explore and—"

"And a _million_ things that can, and _will_ , go wrong, Andrew!" Camilo grabbed his hair in desperation, "You're not made for these kinds of worlds! It isn't like I'm made for 'em either, but at least I can run away at any moment!"

"Why do you have to act like that? Just because I'm not like you doesn't mean that I can't defend myself" Andrew raised the bow and put it between them "I can use this to help myself now."

"Andrew," Camilo groaned, "a bow is not for fighting close quarters, nor armored enemies… it's not even made for dragged-out combat. And you've trained with it for a month! You're a kid with a gun right now."

"Because you were a prodigy that could handle it in no time flat, right?"

"I think I told you Lingster taught me by beating the shit outta me. It took _me three years_ to finally use it for hunting like it's supposed to be because I _sucked_ at it! I didn't let go of my bow for another two years before I even _thought_ of using it against other people. And then I hit the fucking wall because, guess _what_? Hitting animals and people with a bow _does_ give you different results." Camilo raised his voice so much that it sounded weird, in part to the volume and in part to his dry mouth "Andrew, I'm not saying you won't be able to defend yourself in a worst-case scenario. But you can't go around thinking that you'll live through anything just 'cause you know how to shoot an arrow."

"What do _you_ know? You're just a _kid_ right now. Even if you were big and mighty before, you're the same as me right now."

"Then how come you've only been able to throw me down when I'm almost blind from a headache?"

"Very well, that is enough from both of you." Kalenis dumped his wings over both of them, covering them completely, "Andrew does not want to go back. Camilo does not want him to be in danger. Both views are right. You can find a compromise between yourselves or we will not leave this place in an eternity."

"Don't treat me like a child" Both of them said at the same time.

"That is one compromise that can be achieved. Anything else?" he looked at both, now that they moved his feathers away.

"Fine." Camilo groaned, already tired of listening to Kalenis as if he was his dad, "I'll keep training you as long as you travel with me, and I'll keep you safe, since it's my fault you're here with me... But I _will_ keep looking for portals to your world."

"Okay, fine, I will listen to you. But I will decide if I go to my world. is that good for you?"

"On one condition..." Camilo said, still with the thorn on his side about the subject they left unexplored "Tell me why do you have issues with your father? Kalenis told me that, when we fought that time, what I told you almost a month ago may have to do with him."

"I will tell you about him when I want." Andrew argued, crossing his arms over his chest. Camilo didn't have to know all of his private life's details, and this in particular wasn't one to be shouted at anyone who listened, "on the condition that you won't stop anything I want to do if it won't get me killed."

"Fair enough—" Camilo was cut-off by Andrew forcing the canteen into his mouth, and, with no other option, he decided to drink the water in it. Each drop made him feel his thirst diminish, if only just a bit, "You know, I would have drunk it if you'd told me again."

"I didn't want to risk it. I'll go to sleep." Andrew said, stomping away to his makeshift bed, and covering himself with the sheets.

"We're not done yet."

"But you're in no condition for this. Go rest for once in your life, Camilo. you need it."

Andrew went to sleep without another word, while Kalenis and Camilo stayed there. The little bit of water left on the waterskin sloshed around with Camilo's absentminded movements as he pondered things. He was thirsty, but he still worried about Andrew, and he wasn't sure he should have followed his whim, even when forced by Andrew's hand. Now, if they took longer than a day, besides the threat to his own health, Andrew could start down the same road he was now, and that was something he wanted to avoid as much as possible.

Kalenis just looked at him in silence for a while, pondering if he should interfere with all his internal conflicts here and there. Kalenis was interrupted when Camilo said something almost low enough to miss.

"I'm a mess…"

"That is true."

"He's also a mess. No one should want to get away from their world just to explore… not when they're so unprepared."

"That is also true."

"So, what are you gonna do tomorrow?" Camilo changed the subject, now that the previous one wasn't going anywhere.

"I have not decided yet"

"You got 'til noon. Maybe 'til the day after, if we take too long. You remember that, right?"

"I am aware, and I will have a decision by then, it is nothing to worry about. It is impressive that I did not foresee his actions in the last round of our combat from a few days ago, he is progressing."

"I…"

Camilo stopped talking for a second, pondering what Kalenis said about his progress. True, he was better now than a month ago, and he wasn't expecting Andrew to be better than him in just a month, but they were at the expected point in his training. Why was he being so hard on Andrew then? He didn't want to turn him in the murder machine he was, so why was he going so far?

To keep him safe.

Camilo couldn't be there at every single time Andrew could be in danger, and if Kalenis took a decision before they left, maybe he would be the only one looking out for Andrew in the future. If Camilo died, who was going to keep Andrew safe?

"Tell me," Camilo began, once more when he realized his mind was going nowhere, "should I stop worrying about him?"

"Well," Kalenis started, thinking it was remarkable how his turmoil seemed to go out of control for a moment, before Camilo himself stopped it, "he is improving fast. But the weapon he has is not the best for him, he seems to do better with the long blade you use."

"But he needs to be too close to use it… Am I holding him back?"

"It could be. I have not trained another in the ways of fighting, so I am not certain. What I am certain of, is that you should be talking with him about this, not with me. As far as I know, he is improving. He may not be capable to kill you or me if there was the need, but he will get there someday."

"That's what worries me, you remember the Kalmeyar. He hurt you really bad and almost killed me. And yet, Andrew isn't getting better than us."

"It is too soon to know if he will be better. What we have done should be enough for small threats, and he will not leave your side or mine."

"What if he does?"

That last question remained in the air for a long time, neither of them had an answer for that question. The day was long, but they already filled their schedule for it, so they had nothing else to do but go to sleep for a while, Kalenis would remain awake to check if anything came closer but there was nothing they could do about Andrew's current situation.

Camilo knew there wasn't much. And hoped he himself would grow stronger in the passing days so he would be able to protect him.

With worry on his chest, Camilo closed his eyes and went to sleep.


End file.
